Within two weeks o the attack on the twin towers, two British in-flight magazines felt the pinch of the terrorist attacks.

Last month the Guardian newspaper reported that Virgin Airlines' award-winning inflight magazine, Hot Air, had been suspended. Although the October edition of the magazine will go on board, Virgin is not committing to any further issues.

The Guardian also reported that copies of High Life, the inflight magazine published by British Airways, were removed from airplanes after it was discovered the current edition featured an advertisement illustrated by a photograph of the World Trade Centre.

The magazines were returned with the offending advertisement ripped out.

According to the Guardian, observers believe High Life, which sells its own advertising space, is in a better position to survive than Hot Air, where advertising is handled externally.

Michael Caraher, chief executive of the Association of Advertisers in Ireland, says he can understand Hot Air's predicament.

"In a period of total uncertainty, one of two things happens: you pull the mag or you start giving significantly reduced rates for advertising." He favours the latter option.

Caraher says that inflight magazines charge advertisers according to projections of passenger numbers. He suggests that in the short term, with a decline in passenger numbers, some magazines will look at reducing advertising rates.

Caraher says that because most of the advertisements in the magazines of carriers flying into the State are for shops and services, car hire and so on, these companies will continue to advertise. However, advertisers may get reduced rates to compensate them for the reduced number of people who are going to be flying.

"We are all going through a period where it is very difficult to forecast who is going to be flying or how many people are going to be on a flight and therefore what's your likely size of audience going to be," he says.