Interview with Jennifer Leach English, Editorial Director, and Jeff Burger, Editor, Business Jet Traveler
Who reads BJT?
Burger: According to the latest independent Readex study, our typical readers are high-net-worth individuals who have been involved with private aviation for decades. When evaluating aviation products and services, they rely more on BJT than on flight departments, consultants, or any other information source. More than 80 percent read at least half of every issue, including 42 percent who say they read “all or almost all” of each edition.
What are some of the major innovations you’ve introduced?
English: In 2008, we launched an annual Buyers’ Guide, and we began publishing a China edition of that—with text in both Chinese and English—in 2012. We debuted and then improved our BJT Waypoints e-mail newsletter. Our website is on the verge of a major upgrade. We introduced the annual Readers’ Choice Survey, the industry’s only comprehensive poll of business jet passengers; the yearly BJT Book of Lists; and, most recently, the BJT Yellow Pages.
What makes the magazine stand out in your view?
Burger: Editorial independence, for one thing. Readers know we maintain a high wall between editorial and advertising and we don’t represent an industry association or any other group. We just try to serve our readers and that, of course, ultimately benefits advertisers, because subscribers trust our content and spend a lot of time with it.
English: Also, our editorial mix. I don’t know of any other magazine that combines authoritative business aviation service copy with lifestyle features aimed at business jet travelers.
Burger: I’d cite the quality of our editorial as well. We’ve attracted writers such as Joe Sharkey, who covered business travel for the New York Times. We use photographers such as Bill Bernstein, who spent many years as Paul McCartney’s personal photographer, and two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Essdras Suarez. We publish exclusive interviews with prominent business jet travelers like Sir Richard Branson, James Carville, Bobbi Brown and Morgan Freeman. And we have won more than 40 major editorial awards—many in competitions where we vied not just with other aviation publications but with all business and consumer magazines. The American Society of Business Publication Editors named us to its list of Best U.S. Business Magazines in 2011, 2013, and 2016.
How has the magazine changed over the years?
English: Completely. If you look at our first few issues and at the magazine today, it’s difficult to believe that they’re the same publication. It took us a while—and a few redesigns—to find the right voice and look. And since then, we’ve continued to tweak the package. Our last redesign was at the beginning of last year. We’re always trying to improve.
