VIRGIN ATLANTIC’S HOT AIR JUST GOT EVEN HOTTER!

Hot Air, Virgin Atlantic’s award winning inflight magazine, is to be relaunched after a radical redesign that aims to further widen its existing lead over all other inflight magazines. From the groundbreaking launch issue of Hot Air in 1988, the magazine has pushed the boundaries of inflight magazines and has been compared to leading lifestyle publications rather than other inflight magazines.

In order to refresh Hot Air’s appeal Virgin Atlantic recently appointed ex-Arena editor Ekow Eshun. Ekow’s influence will first be seen in the next issue onboard on 1 April.

The relaunch issue features a ‘Top 100’ list of the hottest people, places and ideas on the planet today – the ultimate style bible for passengers. The magazine is separated into two sections, ‘Arrivals’ and ‘Departures’. The magazine begins with the ‘Departures’ section that gives readers the lowdown on new fashion items, music and books. The ‘Arrivals’ sections contains travel based articles from tips on packing a weekend bag to destination guides and even how to land an Airbus A321 for the ‘how it works’ feature. The magazine is published quarterly.

Lysette Gauna, Head of Media for Virgin Atlantic, said;

“We are really excited about the new look and content of Hot Air. It has long been considered the best inflight magazine in the world, consistently winning industry awards. This relaunch shows our commitment to providing passengers with the sort of top read they currently buy at the news-stands.

“In recent years coverage of travel has grown massively with a range of high quality travel magazines and travel supplements in all the broadsheets. So instead of inflight magazines imitating the style magazines, it has come full circle with the style magazines moving into our territory. We like to think Hot Air is best placed to write interesting and informative travel articles and we expect the new Hot Air to set new standards for our industry.”

Ekow Eshun, Editor of Hot Air, commented;

“Hot Air is directly aimed at people who have an international outlook on culture, whether they’re travelling regularly on business or just going on holiday once a year. It’s an inflight magazine that is interested in the world around it and powerful design is an essential part of that message.

“This redesign will make Hot Air more stylish and more contemporary and we are very excited about it.”

Eshun is a respected journalist, broadcaster and cultural critic. As editor of Arena magazine from 1996-99, he was the youngest ever editor of a men's magazine. He is a regular contributor on BBC 2's Late Review, and has written for The Guardian, The Observer, The Independent On Sunday, The Face and the New Statesman. He has presented documentaries for Channel 4 and Radio 4, and is a frequent cultural commentator on TV and radio. The design was overseen by John Brown Publishing’s Creative Director, Jeremy Leslie. The new look includes a new masthead and bold use of colour.

In addition to the redesign of the magazine, Ekow Eshun has been building a new team including new deputy editor Peter Lyle, a freelance journalist and contributor to Arena, The Face and The Guardian, Jennifer Kabat and Stephen Armstrong. Jennifer is well known for writing on The Face and Arena while Stephen is a contributing editor to Wallpaper* and Time Out.

This year Hot Air won the award for ‘Best Inflight magazine’ by World Airline Entertainment Association, an award it has won six times out of the last seven years. Hot Air aims to provide useful, accessible information on flight destinations as well as informative articles and entertaining features.