Kia Ora: Air New Zealand's inflight mag returns to print

Hello, again: The inflight magazine will be back in print for next month. Photo / Supplied

Air New Zealand's inflight magazine, Kia Ora, has returned to print for the first time since the Covid 19 pandemic.

From tomorrow passengers flying with the airline will find a physical magazine in their seat pockets.

Like much of the airline's services, August's magazine has been streamlined with an editorial focus which is much closer to home – highlighting domestic destinations such as Queenstown, Wanaka, Christchurch, Nelson, Wellington, Wairarapa, Ruapehu, Rotorua, New Plymouth and Kerikeri.

"The August edition of Kia Ora magazine has been produced in partnership with long term partner Tourism New Zealand to promote its new campaign 'Do something new, New Zealand'," said the airline's manager of brand and marketing Jeremy O'Brien.

"We're pleased to throw our weight behind supporting domestic tourism and we hope this month's Kia Ora inspires Kiwis to check out a destination in their own backyard which has been on their bucket list for a while"

Relaunch: The Kia Ora magazine returns to seat pockers across the Air NZ network. Photo / Supplied

The edition has been published by Bauer New Zealand and editor Virginia Larson.
It was questioned whether the Kia Ora would return after fears over travel hygiene, cost cutting measures and the closure of magazine's publisher Bauer had put the title on an uncertain course.

However after being bought by Mercury Capital this month, Air New Zealand's flying mag was announced alongside Woman's Day, New Zealand Woman's Weekly as one of the titles to "immediately" return to print.

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Nice touch Air New Zealand. Great to get this in the mail - bittersweet to look back on as my late father was an Air NZ pilot, starting on the DC3 for NAC back in the day. Sad to think of all the unemployed pilots and crew during this stressful time... This magazine just got better and better over the years with great travel stories - will miss it . . . . #airnewzealand #nac #nationalairline #kiaoramagazine #travel #airlines #covid19 #covid19fallout #pilots #airnzpilots #airnzcrew #airnz #travel #planes #aircraft #magazine #travelwriting

A post shared by Bridget Foley Design (@bridgetfoleydesign) on May 27, 2020 at 2:53am PDT

Tourism New Zealand's domestic manager Bjoern Spreitzer, said it was "terrific" to be able to return to the pages of the travel magazine.

"It's exciting to tell travel stories to New Zealanders and encourage people to do something new in their backyard. New Zealand has so much to offer, but we often put things off because we feel like they will always be there – however now is a really great opportunity to explore."

Last year the magazine came under fire after the airline applied to register the term 'Kia Ora' with the New Zealand IPO as a 'trade mark'. The application was later withdrawn after consultation with iwi leaders.

Although Air New Zealand said it "had set out to trademark just the Kia Ora magazine logo rather than the words themselves" it was decided against after a "much-needed discussion" over Māori language and trade mark law.