Airline passengers might see SkyMall, the iconic in-flight catalog selling quirky items such as glow-in-the-dark toilet seats and $1,800 electric unicycles, return to their seat pockets.
On Friday, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Phoenix approved the $1.9 million-sale of Phoenix-based SkyMall LLC to C&A Marketing Inc., which has indicated it’s considering reviving the catalog.
SkyMall filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this year, laid off 47 of its 137 workers and shut down the catalog’s retail operations. In court records, the company cited competition from in-flight Internet access as one of the primary reasons for the catalog’s demise.
“With the increased use of electronic devices on planes, fewer people browsed the SkyMall in-flight catalog,” Scott Wiley, chief financial officer of SkyMall’s parent company, Xhibit Corp., wrote in a legal declaration filed with the court in January.
SkyMall’s trademark and online business then went to auction and C&A was the winning bidder. The $1.9 million pricetag is a small amount considering SkyMall’s revenue topped $33.7 million in 2013, court records show.
C&A is known for rescuing dying, well-known brands, such as Polaroid and Ritz Camera, and is also considering reviving the popular in-flight catalog.
SkyMall was founded 25 years ago by Arizona State Senator Bob Worsley, who is no longer involved with the company.
