From AboutUS Jan 20, 2006
US Airways launched a new inflight magazine in January, and as is the case with any work in progress, the airline has received both positive feedback and some ideas for improvement. Before sharing that feedback, however, how about some background on the magazine’s production?!
US Airways Magazine as a Revenue Producer
The new magazine, which combines the prior America West inflight magazine and US Airways former magazine, Attache’, is produced at no cost to the airline and actually provides a monthly revenue stream to the new US Airways. Greensboro-based Pace Communications publishes the magazine and is responsible for all advertising sales. Pace is responsible for selling enough space to cover the cost of producing the magazine on top of the revenue they commit to the airline each month. As a result of this risk, the publisher limits the amount of “non-ad†space (i.e. pages the airline authors) in the magazine. Since the non-revenue space itself must be further divided (between “marketing†and “informational†content), space is at a premium. One significant spacesaving measure is to print content in one language; other features have been compressed for the same reason. But the payoff shows in the bottom line; balancing ad space with marketing and non-ad (feature) space has allowed the airline to increase its monthly revenue by over 200 percent.
US Airways Magazine to Entertain and Inform
But the magazine is more than a revenue generating publication. The inflight magazine serves as an entertainment option for customers and also is a resource for flight attendants by providing terminal map layouts, food/beverage service information and entertainment selections.
Now in Seatbacks:
Room for Improvement
Feedback has continually filtered in, so following are comments on the magazine, as well as the steps we are taking to resolve them or the rationale behind certain aspects of the magazine.
Feedback : "There's not enough employee content."
Response: Stay tuned for features authored by employees and more editorial focus on employees; aiming to implement in April 06.
"What about the translated content?"
Producing the magazine in one language was a necessary step in conserving space without losing content or revenue.
"The route maps are hard to read."
We're reworking the depiction of US Airways destinations vs. alliance cities to better emphasize our cities; will implement with March issue.
"The terminal maps are missing."
We're returning FRA to the maps section; will implement in March.
"The food/beverage section is confusing."
We're inserting clearer language in the March 06 issue; this issue will be solved permanently when catering is fully integrated.
"It's too 'Vegas-centric'."
LAS is a hot destination and advertisers know it; as a major revenue generator, LAS ads will remain. As we strengthen our brand, more diverse advertising opportunities will arise.
"What happened to the comment cards?"
Cards were cut as a cost-savings measure; however, we're looking into other ways to make comment cards available inflight.
Watch for continued improvement to our inflight magazine, and keep those comments coming!
US Airways launched a new inflight magazine in January, and as is the case with any work in progress, the airline has received both positive feedback and some ideas for improvement. Before sharing that feedback, however, how about some background on the magazine’s production?!
US Airways Magazine as a Revenue Producer
The new magazine, which combines the prior America West inflight magazine and US Airways former magazine, Attache’, is produced at no cost to the airline and actually provides a monthly revenue stream to the new US Airways. Greensboro-based Pace Communications publishes the magazine and is responsible for all advertising sales. Pace is responsible for selling enough space to cover the cost of producing the magazine on top of the revenue they commit to the airline each month. As a result of this risk, the publisher limits the amount of “non-ad†space (i.e. pages the airline authors) in the magazine. Since the non-revenue space itself must be further divided (between “marketing†and “informational†content), space is at a premium. One significant spacesaving measure is to print content in one language; other features have been compressed for the same reason. But the payoff shows in the bottom line; balancing ad space with marketing and non-ad (feature) space has allowed the airline to increase its monthly revenue by over 200 percent.
US Airways Magazine to Entertain and Inform
But the magazine is more than a revenue generating publication. The inflight magazine serves as an entertainment option for customers and also is a resource for flight attendants by providing terminal map layouts, food/beverage service information and entertainment selections.
Now in Seatbacks:
Room for Improvement
Feedback has continually filtered in, so following are comments on the magazine, as well as the steps we are taking to resolve them or the rationale behind certain aspects of the magazine.
Feedback : "There's not enough employee content."
Response: Stay tuned for features authored by employees and more editorial focus on employees; aiming to implement in April 06.
"What about the translated content?"
Producing the magazine in one language was a necessary step in conserving space without losing content or revenue.
"The route maps are hard to read."
We're reworking the depiction of US Airways destinations vs. alliance cities to better emphasize our cities; will implement with March issue.
"The terminal maps are missing."
We're returning FRA to the maps section; will implement in March.
"The food/beverage section is confusing."
We're inserting clearer language in the March 06 issue; this issue will be solved permanently when catering is fully integrated.
"It's too 'Vegas-centric'."
LAS is a hot destination and advertisers know it; as a major revenue generator, LAS ads will remain. As we strengthen our brand, more diverse advertising opportunities will arise.
"What happened to the comment cards?"
Cards were cut as a cost-savings measure; however, we're looking into other ways to make comment cards available inflight.
Watch for continued improvement to our inflight magazine, and keep those comments coming!
