When you think of airlines you think of business travelers, and you think of the hours they spend in flight each year, and that's long made them an ideal venue for advertising.

But how do you connect with those travelers? One way is the fold-down trays those travelers use often to work on.

From that Brand Connections, a New York alternative media shop, came up with an idea: putting not just ads on the tray tables but editorial content as well, which is a pretty solid way to ensure the ads get more than a passing glance.

Brand Connections approached BusinessWeek with its idea. BusinessWeek was receptive.

“It was kind of a coincidence,” says Noelle Cleary, BusinessWeek marketing director. “I had been looking for alternative media to get our message out there, and [Brand Connections] was looking for a media partner that would resonate with passengers on these planes.”

On June 1, U.S. Airways passengers pulled down their trays to see what looked like a magazine page, only larger. On the left was a story from BusinessWeek, on the right an ad taking up the remaining 80 percent of the tray table's surface.

“The bulk of the people that fly U.S. Airways do so for business,” says Brian Martin, founder and CEO of Brand Connections. “BusinessWeek is the best business publication, so it’s really a preferred supplier.”

Passengers are noticing. In a test, Brand Connections found that passengers looked at tray tables with BusinessWeek content three to four times longer than tray tables without the editorial. Another study found that more than 90 percent of passengers use tray tables.

BusinessWeek content will be in around 2,000 flights a month, says Cleary, with content rotating once a month to start then going to a two-week cycle in the near future.

BW columns include the writings of former GE chief Jack Welch and his wife Suzy, wine critic Robert M. Parker and CNBC “Closing Bell” anchor Maria Bartiromo.

For variety, the trays for window, center and aisle seats feature different columns. The columns and ads are printed on the laminate wrap and heat-sealed onto the tray.