Cathay Pacific expands inflight magazine into multi-channel communication platform

Travel Aug. 08, 2012 - 06:46AM JST ( 0 )

HONG KONG —

Cathay Pacific Airways is expanding its flagship inflight magazine Discovery into the digital environment, employing a number of new channels to enrich the airline’s existing customer communication platforms.

Digital Discovery is available for download as a digital magazine, as an app for mobile devices, and for browsing on the Cathay Pacific website – cathaypacific.com/discovery. The print version of Discovery will continue to be available onboard all Cathay Pacific flights.

Custom-built for Cathay Pacific by the magazine’s publisher, ACP Magazines Asia Ltd, the Digital Discovery platform has been optimized for usability and functionality across all devices - from smartphones and iPads to non iPad tablets and desktop computers – to bring a fresh, bilingual approach to quality travel editorial.

Cathay Pacific General Manager Product Alex McGowan said: “As smartphones and other digital communication devices become increasingly popular, the launch of Digital Discovery is an exciting development that allows us to create and distribute engaging digital content across multiple channels, all integrated under the Discovery brand. This is a great way to enhance and complement the onboard entertainment experience for our passengers.”

The digital platforms offer a wide variety of interactive elements including embedded videos, high-resolution screenshots, interactive features as well as other exciting and exclusive content. Moreover, while the magazine can be downloaded from the App Store, HTML 5 technology is employed to ensure that Discovery will be available app-free across almost all devices from just about anywhere.

The digitalized content on the website centers on two key editorial pillars to provide passengers with useful travel information: a suite of snapshot guides to Hong Kong across a range of “hit lists”, including dining and hotels plus activity and entertainment options; and “new and now summary” guides covering 44 Cathay Pacific destinations.