{{short description|British aviation magazine}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2024}} {{Use British English|date=June 2017}} {{Infobox magazine | title = Flight International | image_file = Flightcover.gif | image_size = | image_caption = ''Flight International'' cover, 9 April 2019 | company = DVV Media Group | frequency = Weekly to September 2020, thereafter monthly, from January 2025 quarterly. Ceased completely at the end of 2025. | language = British English | category = Aerospace | editor = Craig Hoyle | publisher = | founder = Stanley Spooner | founded = {{Start date and age|1909}} | firstdate = {{Start date and age|1909|1|2|df=y}} | finaldate = {{Start date and age|2025|12}} | country = England | based = Sutton, London | website = {{URL|www.flightglobal.com}} | issn = 0015-3710 | circulation_year = December 2019 | total_circulation = 26,000 }}
'''''Flight International''''', formerly '''''Flight''''', was a monthly magazine focused on aerospace. Published in the United Kingdom and founded in 1909 as "A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice, and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport";<ref name="bruce133" /> until 2025 it was the world's oldest continuously published aviation news magazine.<ref name="Ward">{{cite book |last=Ward |first=Arthur |year=2015 |title=A Guide to War Publications of the First & Second World War: From Training Guides to Propaganda Posters |publisher=Pen & Sword |page=39 |isbn=978-1-783-83154-8 |quote=Founded in 1909, ''Flight'' (now ''Flight International'') the British produced global aerospace weekly and the world's oldest continuously published aviation news magazine, was another publisher of specialist information which appeared as wartime paper restrictions allowed to keep enthusiasts up to date in aircraft design and performance.}}</ref>
''Flight International'' is published by DVV Media Group. Competitors include Jane's Information Group and ''Aviation Week & Space Technology''. Former editors of, and contributors include H. F. King, Bill Gunston, John W. R. Taylor and David Learmount.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Flight International magazine |url=https://www.flightglobal.com/flight-international |access-date=2025-10-27 |website=Flight Global |language=en}}</ref>
==History== The founder and first editor of ''Flight'' was Stanley Spooner. He was also the creator and editor of ''The Automotor Journal'', originally titled ''The Automotor Journal and Horseless Vehicle''.<ref name=Spooner1959>[https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Stanley_Spooner"Grace's Guide To British Industrial History: Biographies: ''Stanley Spooner''"]. Retrieved 18 July 2018.</ref> From around 1900, the journal had a separate section relating to aviation and aeronautical matters. The 5 April 1908 issue of ''The Automotor Journal'' included a diagram of patent drawings of a plane made by the Wright brothers.<ref name=Wright1908>[https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1948/1948%20-%201792.html "Back To The Beginning"]. ''Flight''. 28 October 1948. p. 506. Retrieved 20 July 2018.</ref> Stanley kept in contact with them via his friend Griffith Brewer.<ref name=Spooner1959 /><ref>[https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/1903_Automotor:_Index "Grace's Guide To British Industrial History: 1903 Automotor Index"]. Retrieved 19 July 2018.</ref><ref>[https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/1901-1902_Automotor:_Index "Grace's Guide To British Industrial History: 1901–1902 Automotor Index"]. Retrieved 19 July 2018.</ref> Eventually, Spooner decided that a journal focused solely on matters relating to flying should be published—and so, ''Flight'' magazine was established as an offshoot of ''The Automotor Journal''.<ref name="bruce133" /><ref name=Wright1908 />
Claiming to be the first aeronautical weekly in the world, ''Flight'' first appeared on 2 January 1909 as the official journal of the Aero Club of the United Kingdom (later the Royal Aero Club).<ref name="bruce133">Bruce 1982, p. 133</ref> In April 1934, ''Flight'' was acquired by Iliffe & Sons, who were proprietors and printers of technical magazines, one of which included ''Autocar''.<ref>[http://www.aeroflight.co.uk/mags/magazine-details/flight-international-magazine.htm."Flight International: Publishing History"]. Retrieved 18 July 2018.</ref><ref>"Aircraft Journal"/''Sheffield Independent – Monday 9 April 1934 p.1''. Retrieved 19 July 2018 via: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk: Findmypast Newspaper Archive Limited.</ref> On 4 January 1962, the magazine was renamed ''Flight International''.<ref name="bruce133" /> In October 1968, ''Aeroplane: The International Air Transport Journal''—commonly known as ''Aeroplane''—merged with its sister publication, ''Flight International''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.key.aero/article/print|title=How The Aeroplane became the world's best-known aviation magazine — and its post-war fall|date=1 June 2021|website=Key Aero}}</ref>
In August 2019, ''Flight International'' and its associated divisions (except analytics and consulting divisions, which were retained by RELX as Cirium) were sold to DVV Media Group.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.flightglobal.com/110-years-of-flight/powering-into-our-eleventh-decade/135869.article|title=Powering into our eleventh decade|last=Kingsley-Jones|first=Max|date=19 December 2019|website=Flightglobal|language=en|access-date=9 April 2020}}</ref> In September 2020, ''Flight International'' switched from a weekly to monthly publication,<ref>Announcing a new era for Flight International ''Flight International'' 28 July 2020 page 10</ref><ref>Hoyle, Craig. "Comment: Welcome to the new-look Flight". ''Flight International'', September 2020, Vol. 197, No. 5749. p. 7. {{issn|0015-3710}}</ref> in January 2025 to quarterly publication.<ref>Flight International, 1/2025, p. 3.</ref>
Since the end of 2025, publishing a printed version of ''Flight International'' has been completely discontinued after 117 years of existence.
==See also== * ''Aviation Week & Space Technology'', a similar aerospace sector industry magazine * FlightGlobal
==Notes== {{reflist|45em}}
==References== *{{cite book|title=Aviation Enthusiasts' Data Book|first=Bruce|last=Robertson|publisher=Patrick Stephens Limited|location=Cambridge, England|isbn=0-85059-500-2|date=1982}}
==External links== * [https://www.dvvmedia.com/en.html DVV Media International] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200523202718/https://www.dvvmedia.com/en.html |date=23 May 2020 }} * [https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/ ''Flight'' archives Flightglobal.com] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20061018122057/http://www.flightglobal.com/staticpages/cutaways.html Aerospace illustrations ("cutaways") on ''Flight International'''s website] (snapshot of site from December 2012) * [https://archive.org/search.php?query=Flight%20International&and%5B%5D=mediatype%3A%22texts%22 Archived Flight International magazines] on the Internet Archive
{{Aerospace industry in the United Kingdom}}
Category:Aerospace industry in the United Kingdom Category:Aviation magazines published in the United Kingdom Category:English-language magazines Category:Magazines established in 1909 Category:Monthly magazines published in the United Kingdom Category:1909 establishments in England