SKYJACK MAGAZINE: The 1990s Queer Air Travel Zine You Didn't Know You Needed
Airlines & Air Travel, Through a Queer & Pop Culture Lens
In the days before social media and blogs, fanzines (also known as 'zines) were a thriving creative platform for communication and creative expression. Skyjack Magazine, which I created, is a prime example: an unapologetically queer, unapologetically aviation-obsessed zine that took flight from 1993 to 1997 — a cheaply produced love letter to airlines, pop culture, insider gossip and the LGBTQ+ people who kept the industry aloft.
Created long before blogs, hashtags, or “content creators,” Skyjack mixed camp, candor and cultural critique with reports from real pilots and flight attendants, celebrity interviews (hello, RuPaul), deep dives into airline history and a healthy dose of irreverent humor at 35,000 feet. Digitized for the first time, these issues offer a time capsule of 1990s queer travel culture — and proof that even in the jet age, soaring above the clouds was always a little more fabulous than anyone admitted. Scroll down to get in on the 1990s airline vibe.
SKYJACK MAGAZINE Issue 1 (Fall 1993)
Skyjack Magazine Issue 2 (Spring 1994)
Skyjack Magazine is wheels-up again! Issue 2 (Spring 1994) has officially been digitized — featuring RuPaul at 35,000 feet, Miami’s jet-age ghosts, “movies the airlines won’t show you,” queer aviation art analysis, flight-attendant confessions from both sides of the Atlantic, and all the snarky, sky-high attitude you expect from a 1990s zine for LGBTQ+ people who fly. Scroll down to view the full PDF and enjoy this throwback to the glory days of photocopied rebellion, airline nostalgia, and unapologetic queer travel culture.
Skyjack Magazine Issue 2 showcases airline history in Miami, plus the life of an international flight attendant and insight about the FAA.