Britannia Airways to review publisher for Skyscene magazine

Britannia Airways is reviewing the contract for its in-flight

title, Skyscene, and has entered discussions with eight publishing

agencies about a pitch for the business.

The review, out of the incumbent customer pub-lisher, The Communications

Team, is believed to have been triggered by the need to cut costs on the

account.

A spokesman for Britannia confirmed that the account had been put out to

tender and submissions were being examined. The contenders are expected

to be cut down to a shortlist of five or fewer to pitch for the

business.

Publishers involved in the review are believed to include British

Airways' incumbent, Cedar (formerly Premier Media Partners), Specialist

Publications and John Brown Publishing, which lost the account in

1999.

The past few months have seen publishers of in-flight magazines

suffering in the wake of the terrorist attacks of 11 September. John

Brown Publishing saw its Virgin Atlantic title, Hot Air, suspended as

the airline moved to cut costs.

The decision by Omnicom to fold Premier Media Partners into Redwood was

seen by many as a response to decreasing profitability on the British

Airways business.

Skyscene is published in six different language editions, with

Scandinavian titles produced in conjunction with the Norwegian

publishing house Cox Kornmunikasjon. It is not clear how these

arrangements will be affected.

This article was first published on Campaign