Inflight magazine

An inflight magazine (or in-flight magazine) is a free magazine distributed via the seats of an airplane by an airline company.

Many airline companies produce inflight magazines to provide details about their fleet, as well as articles about destinations or other interesting information.

Inflight publishing is an unusual niche in the magazine world. Airline titles have minimal distribution costs, and readership figures come from existing passenger traffic. Most airlines use external publishers to produce their magazines, and Ink is currently the world's leading company in this sector.

More than 80% of passengers read the magazines airlines place in front of them, and readers average around 30 minutes a flight with the magazines, according to Arbitron. Despite the challenges facing the publishing industry, this is a healthy sector, and on a large scale, inflight magazines have suffered less than magazines overall.

While the quality of inflight magazines varies widely, their upscale, captive readership appeals to advertisers, particularly luxury-goods makers targeting men.

The first inflight magazine was that of Pan American World Airways, whereas the longest running inflight magazine is KLM's Holland Herald, first published in January 1966. The inflight market has grown in recent years, and there are currently over 150 inflight magazines titles.

Moreover, since the birth of digital technology, most airlines are distributing their magazines digitally via tablet computer applications, or over the internet.

Among specialized publishers are

Quite similar to inflight magazines, some railroad companies offer a comparable product aboard their long distance trains, e.g. Deutsche Bahn's mobil or Indian Railways'

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Wikipedia