United Business Media (UBM.L), acquired OAG Holdings on behalf of its wholly-owned subsidiary Commonwealth Business Media, parent company of BACK Aviation Solutions, for ?2.6 million. The 76-year-old Official Airline Guide provides consolidated passenger and cargo flight information to the global aviation industry. OAG's airline schedule database holds historical and future flight details for 1,000 airlines and more than 3,500 airports, and currently tracks around 28 million departures per year and is a major analytical tool for industry. The acquisition complements Commonwealth Business Media's BACK Aviation database business into which it will be integrated.

CBI plans to transform it into a profitable business as a provider of flight information and data to the global aviation industry as well as marry the analytical services of BACK Aviation Solutions with the strong assets of OAG's data business.

In 2006, almost 50% of OAG's estimated ?24 million revenues were derived from data and electronic products, a proportion that is expected to rise in future. The remaining revenues were generated principally from print products. Commonwealth's management team has a track record of successfully developing print-centric businesses into data-driven, intelligence businesses.

OAG's first publication listed 35 airlines offering 300 flights and it now tracks 28 million departures annually for over 1,000 airlines worldwide. In addition to the Commonwealth Business Media division, UBM operates through PR Newswire's news distribution network and CBMI's portfolio of more than 200 newspapers, magazines and directories, 200 websites and 300 events. In 2005 the business had continuing revenues of more than $1.3 billion with an underlying operating profit of more than $270 million.