About Impressions Magazine

Airline Background

operating as

BMED was established in 1994 by a group of private investors under the chairmanship of Lord Hesketh as a limited company. With a single A320, the airline flew five a week between London and Beirut, the Lebanese capital.

The following year, Des Hetherington, formerly with Kenya Airways and British Airways, was appointed as Chief Executive.

The route network grew significantly when further Middle East services began to the Syrian capital, Damascus, and the Jordanian capital, Amman. Expansion in a different direction occurred the same year when a fortnightly charter operation for gold miners started to Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, in Central Asia.

Evidence of the effective fleet utilisation strategy came at the end of the year when Airbus Industries presented BMED with an Achievement Award for the highest average flight duration – 3.7 hours per flights – over a year.

In 1997, a joint franchise partnership was agreed with British Airways plc. British Airways withdrew its own services to Beirut, Damascus and Amman leaving BMED as the sole British carrier serving those routes. BMED adopted British Airways' entire brand identity including the distinctive aircraft livery, changing crew uniforms and service delivery. Importantly, passengers were now able to book BMED through British Airways' worldwide distribution system. Equally, the London operation transferred from Terminal 3 to Terminal 4 offering better flight connections and more modern facilities.

Three new routes started in 1997 to Alexandria in Egypt, Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, and Yerevan, the Armenian capital.

In May 1998, a new service to Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, was launched though only for one season.

The next event was in 2000 when BMED took over the operation of British Airways' Gatwick service to Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, transferring it to Heathrow. BMED took charge of a further A320, brand new from the Airbus assembly line and painted in the Chatham Historic Dockyard “Union Jack” livery.

Later that year, a new, non-stop service to Aleppo, Syria's second city, was launched as were weekly flights to Luxor, Egypt, though the latter operated for one season only. BMED also took over the operation of another British Airways route to Tehran, the capital of Iran.

BMED then gained ‘fifth freedom traffic rights' for the first time on its network, allowing passengers the right to travel between two overseas points, in this case, Baku and Bishkek.

Strong results for 2000-1 showed passengers carried up 24% to 211 500 from 171 000. The biggest rise in traffic was to Bishkek, up 77% to 9 600 passengers, and Alexandria, up 65% to 10 800 passengers.

2001 saw two more routes added to the network with flights to Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, and to Almaty, Kazakhstan, taken over from British Airways mainline.

The most recent new route was started in 2003 to Tashkent, capital of Uzbekistan. Services to Tbilisi were temporarily suspended between May and October due to inter-governmental negotiations on air services between the two countries.

In the twelve months to March 2003, BMED celebrated a notable milestone – carrying over a quarter of a million passengers.

In April, two new services commenced to Khartoum in the Sudan and Ekaterinburg in Russia bringing BMED's route network to 16 destinations in 15 countries throughout Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia.

After 18 months of suspension, the service to Tbilisi, Georgia, resumed in October 2004.

The Magazine

Impressions Magazine is a contemporary high calibre quarterly publication that caters for the modern traveller. Impressions is one of the few inflight magazines with dedicated features and information on every destination. Our readers are local and International. business and leisure travellers with a high disposable income and sophisticated lifestyle.

Print run: 30,000 copies each being read by an average of five people. Total readership : 100,000 Available on all BMED flights to the destinations featured above. Selected four and five star hotels in each destination also distribute Impressions, ensuing an even greater penetration. This means that any leisure or business traveller staying in one of our selected hotels will have access to the magazine. Business Class lounges at destinations served by BMED also supplied. Every advertiser receives five complimentary copies.

Passenger Profile

With such high load factors, the profile of the passengers varies between local and international, business and leisure travellers with a high disposable income.

Being part of the World's largest airline network, BMED carry many interline passengers who are returning home from as far afield as Canada, N & S America and Australia.

In the tables below we outline some statistical information (Based on 250,000 passengers travelling between April 2000 - September 2001)

Distribution and Print Run

Impressions Magazine is available on all BMED flights.

Selected 4 and 5 star hotels in each destination will also carry stock, ensuring an even greater penetration. This means that any leisure or business traveller staying in one of our selected hotels (irrespective of which airline they flew with) will have access to the magazine. Selected business class lounges at British Mediterranean/British Airways destinations will also be allocated supplies. Every advertiser will receive 5 complimentary copies (extra available at a small cost) for special clients and display purposes. Copies of Impressions are also distributed to selected hotels in London, Beirut and Amman, as well as airport lounges at London Heathrow, Beirut, Damascus, Amman, Alexandria, Tblisi, Addis Ababa and Yerevan.

Total distribution - 30,000 copies (each being read by an average of 5 people)

Specifications

Double Page Spread 297 x 420mm
Full Page 297 x 210mm Half Page 130 x 190mm (Horizontal), 275 x 90mm (Vertical)
Quarter Page 130 x 90mm

Mono, Spot Colour and Colour

Film positives, right reading emulsion side down 150-line screen. Complete four colour separation with a chromalin or match-proof. Camera ready artwork accepted subject to a film-making charge.

Billings

All advertisements are to be pre-paid 14 days prior to publication unless otherwise agreed. US$ and UK£ cheques are to be made payable to Impressions. Cancellations

Cancellations

are subject to 28 days notice, prior to the publication deadline. If there are cancellations within this period, the advertiser will become liable for the full advertisement cost.

Advertising contact

For all enquiries on advertising and general information for Impressions Magazine

Nicholas Sykes : nicholas@impressions-ba.com
TEL: 00 44 207 613 8799 FAX: 00 44 207 613 8778 ,
Beirut +961 (0) 3 360650