Virgin Australia Launches Lighter In-Flight Magazine

Virgin Australia 737 Business Class legroom. Photo: Matt Graham.
Photo: Matt Graham.

Virgin Australia passengers will notice something new in their seat pockets from this month. The airline has relaunched its in-flight magazine, with the old Voyeur magazine becoming the “Virgin Australia Magazine”.

The airline’s new in-flight magazine has fewer pages and is lighter than its predecessor, allowing the airline to reduce its fuel consumption. This allows the airline to save money while also reducing its environmental footprint. The first edition of Virgin Australia Magazine contains 130 pages, compared to the 196 pages in last month’s Voyeur Magazine.

Fuel savings

Each Virgin Australia Boeing 737-800 aircraft has 176 seats, and Virgin operates hundreds of flights every day. Although the fuel saving from each individual lighter magazine doesn’t amount to much, the savings from even a small change such as this will be significant on an airline-wide scale. In aviation, every kilogram counts!

Last year, United Airlines saved over $400,000 in fuel costs by printing its in-flight magazines on lighter paper. Meanwhile, Qantas removed duty-free shopping from its flights at the end of 2017 because profits from in-flight sales were not enough to offset the weight of carrying duty-free products and magazines on every international flight.

Virgin Australia Magazine content

Virgin appointed Hardie Grant Media to produce its new in-flight magazine back in February, taking over from Pacific+ which produced Voyeur Magazine. The first issue of the monthly Virgin Australia Magazine hit the seat pockets of Virgin Australia flights on the 1st of July.

The revamped magazine boasts a “new look and feel” and features what the publisher describes as “engaging, relevant and imaginative content”. The content focuses on Virgin Australia destinations and those of its partner airlines. Destinations featured in the July 2019 issue include Hong Kong, Auckland, Melbourne, Sunshine Coast and the Northern Territory.

Have you spotted the new magazine on a Virgin Australia flight this month? What did you think of it?

Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: Virgin Australia Voyeur is June 2019 the last

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 90 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include economics, aviation & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.
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