Flying the well-read skies

Talk about your wacky marketing ideas. BusinessWeek has just struck a deal to have some of its magazine columns appear on airplane tray tables. Yes, the idea of a passenger reading his or her table does seem a little weird, but Brand Connections, the marketing company that's arranging the placement, tested the concept on America West and finds that the BW offerings went over pretty well. The first columnists featured are Maria Bartiromo, Robert Parker, and Jack and Suzy Welch. Aisle, middle and window seats will show different BusinessWeek content, according to Ad Age - and all of them will be updated monthly. Brand Connections is talking to other carriers.