United is grounding print edition of Hemispheres in-flight magazine after 32 years

The seat-back pockets on United Airlines flights could look slimmer beginning this fall. The airline said on Thursday it is grounding the print edition of its long-running onboard magazine, called Hemispheres, which the carrier began publishing in 1992. 

The September issue of Hemispheres will be the magazine's last in print form, with a digital edition replacing the print publication on United flights, for free, United said in a statement. The new format will continue to include much of the same content as the print edition, such as popular features like the Three Perfect Days series, which gives readers sample itineraries to follow in different cities across the globe.  

"The September issue of Hemispheres will be the last printed issue of our onboard magazine. A preview of our digital edition is now available at united.com/hemispheres, and includes many new and fan-favorite features — including our Three Perfect Days series," United said in a statement. 

In this digital day and age it's hardly unusual for a print magazine to fold, given the costs associated with publishing hard copies, and the popularity among readers of digital editions for everything from novels to magazines. 

"A digital experience allows us to make Hemispheres even better — we can reach a wider audience, offer more personalized content and tell richer stories. Plus, digital functionality includes screen reading and enlarged text, with translations into eight languages coming soon. We're excited about the future possibilities and look forward to sharing more details as we get closer to launch," United added. 

Hemispheres' publisher, Ink, had to consider something that many do not: How the magazine's weight affects fuel costs. In 2018, United changed the in-flight magazine's paper stock to make each copy one ounce lighter, saving the airline $300,000 a year. 

"Anytime we can reduce even an ounce of weight, that means we burn less fuel to fly to that destination," Aaron Stash, United's head of environmental strategy and sustainability, told CBS News at the time. "Even an ounce — because if you are multiplying that across the thousands of seats and the thousands of flights we have, that ounce adds up and multiplies very quickly."

Ink also publishes other in-flight magazines, such as Malaysia Airlines' monthly magazine GoingPlaces, whose print versions continue to fill seat back-pockets.

Hemispheres also distinguished United from airlines like Delta, which discontinued its Sky magazine in 2020, and Southwest Airlines, which stopped publishing its magazine that same year, at the beginning of the pandemic. American Airlines shuttered American Way, first launched in 1966, in 2021. The airline at the time said through "free in-flight entertainment, customers will have plenty of entertaining options to tap into during their journeys."

— With reporting from CBS News senior transportation correspondent Kris Van Cleave