Mary Kirby

For 15 years Mary Kirby has covered the aviation industry as both a journalist and an editor. After cutting her teeth at a weekly world airline newsletter Mary joined Flightglobal in 1999 as a reporter for its real-time news site Air Transport Intelligence. She was promoted to Deputy Editor, Americas in 2003 and later to US Editor. In 2007 Mary assumed the position of Senior Editor at Flightglobal's weekly magazine title, Flight International magazine, where she led coverage of inflight entertainment and connectivity (IFEC) and aircraft interiors, and became a regular contributor to sister publication Airline Business magazine. During this time, she was also proprietor of the highly regarded Runway Girl blog, which focused on covering the passenger experience (#PaxEx) sector. On 1 December 2011, Mary was appointed Editor-in-Chief of the Airline Passenger Experience magazine and APEX media platform. She brought prominence to the association’s media, and successfully grew its reach.

In November 2013, Mary launched Kirby Media Group, a company that provides news, events consultancy and media services to the aviation industry. Working with a cadre of some of the best aviation journalists in the world, Kirby Media Group’s news platform, Runway Girl Network, delivers intelligence about the airline passenger experience and associated industries, and highlights the work and accomplishments of women in aviation. The site aims to completely transform the traditional aviation B2B trade news model to encompass a B2B2C model that considers passengers’ needs and wants.

Mary regularly speaks at industry events about IFEC, ancillary revenue opportunities for airlines and social media. She has appeared on Bloomberg TV, CNN, CBS Money Watch and The PME Interview, and has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, the Sydney Morning Herald, the Chicago Tribune, CNBC’s Road Warrior, Reuters and Flightglobal among other news agencies and publications.