W
hatayear.
Wegreetedeach
other inJanuaryas
tworecentlymerged
companies—US
AirwaysandAmericanAirlines—work-
ing towardacommongoalofgoing for
greatwithyou,ourcustomers, inmind.
Muchhasbeensaid inmediacircles in
2015about themerger.Manymilestones
weremet, expectationswereexceeded
andWallStreetwashappy.
Fromamagazineperspective,2015
wasnothingshortofamiracle.Judging
bythe frequencyandqualityof the letters
sent tousateditor@americanwaymag
.com,you,dearreaders,have thoroughly
enjoyed thereimaginedandredesigned
suiteofmagazines inourportfolio.
As longtimeAmericanAirlines
customersknew—and longtimeUS
Airwayscustomers learned— inaddition
to
AmericanWay
, thebellwetherof the
in-flight-magazine industry,wehave
ourpremium-classand loungemaga-
zine,
CelebratedLiving
, andourSpanish-
andPortuguese-languagemagazine,
AmericanAirlinesNexos
.Themiracle is
thatall threemagazineshadnewevery-
thingstarting inJanuary, asweswitched
publishers fromAmericanAirlines
PublishingtoInk.
Indeed, therewerenewstaffs,new
designs,neweditorialdirectionand
newadvertisers.That’swhatyousawas
youboardedplanes inJanuarywithour
FooFighterscoverkickingoff theyear.
Whatyoudidn’tseewasthetirelesswork
goingonbehindthescenestomakethis
aseamless transition.Relaunchingthree
magazineswithanewpublisherwasa
weightyundertaking indeed,butwewere
alsosetting thesunon
USAirways
maga-
zineand tryingtofigureouthow toboard
themagazinesfleetwidewhen therewere
stillvariousadvertisingembargoes in
placeamong the twoairlinesand three
differentmagazinepublishers(therewas
anothercompanythatwas inchargeof
advertisingsales forAmerican’s titlesat
the timeaswell).
Hereweare, almostayear later, and
we’regrowingstrongerandgetting
better, asanairlineandasyour in-flight
magazines.
Wehavesomeexcitingstoriesalready
planned for2016.Buttakesome time,
won’tyou, togive thisfinal issueof the
year—andmyfinal issueasanAmerican
Airlinesemployee—anice, longread.Our
editorial teamhere inDallas, alongwith
oursales team inMiami,went togreat
lengthstofindtheperfectbalanceofcon-
tent foryourholidayreadingenjoyment.
Surfing isoneof thoseactivitiesyou
candowithaone-time investment for
mostofyour life,butwhatabout the lives
EDITOR’SNOTE
ByAdamPitluk
affectedand, insomecases, savedbythis
leisureactivity?Ourstoryonpage84has
an interesting takeononeof thegreat
Americanhobbies.TheHistoryChannel’s
MikeWolfe,hostof
AmericanPickers
, is
oneof thoseraremultitalentswhocan
carryashow, andwhocan, asyou’ll seeon
page70,writeandtakeaprettypicture
toboot.Takeamotorcycle tourwithhim
andhis famous friendsalongtheMis-
sissippiDeltabluestriangle.Andwhile
you’rereadingMike’sprose, listentohim
deejayhis favoritebluessongs fromhis
favoritebluesgreatsonaudiochannel2.
Asprofoundyearsgo,youmust turnto
page58andreadaboutourcoversubject,
EllenPage,whohadavery interesting
year, andwho is the livingembodimentof
life imitatingart, andviceversa.
We’reproudof theyearwehad froman
airlinestandpoint, and fromapublishing
standpoint.AndI’mproudtocontinueon
asyoureditor.Thesedays—and for the
daysahead—expectnothingbutthebest
fromusaswestartanotherchapter.
Seeyou in thesky.
These
Days
AdamPitluk
Editor
FollowAdamonTwitter
@adampitluk
12
DECEMBER2015
AMERICANWAY
MANYMILESTONES
WEREMET,
EXPECTATIONS
WEREEXCEEDED
ANDWALLSTREET
WASHAPPY.
