Malone AirCharter CEO Cristine Kirk Selected as NATA Board Vice Chair

The National Air Transportation Association (NATA) board of directors named Cristine Kirk, CEO of Malone AirCharter, Inc., as its Vice Chair. Kirk was elected to serve on the NATA Board in June 2023. 

Cristine Kirk

Kirk joined Malone AirCharter in 2010 as Staff Accountant and was promoted to Chief Financial Officer (CFO) after just five years. In her role as CFO, Kirk spent the next six years on the company’s strategic leadership team focusing on safety, customer service, and growth. In 2021, Kirk purchased Malone Air Charter, continuing to run the company in the same family-owned tradition of its founding in 2002.

Under Kirk’s leadership as CEO, Malone AirCharter moved from Jacksonville Executive Airport to Jacksonville International Airport, where the company is currently in the planning process of building a new, larger, custom facility. Malone AirCharter has also been featured on the cover of Professional Pilot Magazine and the Jacksonville Business Journal Fast 50. Kirk is an honoree of the Jacksonville Business Journal’s Ultimate CEO, a recognition of her achievements in helping to shape Jacksonville and its business community.

“Cristine has consistently applied her own personal and professional commitment to learning and aiming higher to her work with NATA. The NATA Board is pleased to recognize Cristine’s enthusiasm, compassion, and initiative in her role as Vice Chair as keys to even greater success for the Association,” stated NATA Board Chair and COO of Sheltair Aviation Todd Anderson.

“Cristine’s energy is infectious, and her perspectives as a business-owner, operator, and industry leader are invaluable to NATA’s Board and the Association’s future. We are excited to work with Cristine in her new role,” added NATA President and CEO Curt Castagna.

Kim Stevens

Kim Stevens is the publisher of State Aviation Journal, which he founded in 2009. A longtime commercial-rated pilot, he was introduced to state aviation in 1992 as Director of the Nebraska Department of Aeronautics, later serving as Deputy Division Director for the Arizona Department of Transportation's Aeronautics Division. From 2013 to 2018, he was Director of Communications and Operations for the National Association of State Aviation Officials (NASAO) in Washington, D.C. Relocating to North Carolina, Kim worked for the Raleigh-Durham International Airport for two years and now concentrates solely on the Journal. Prior to his aviation career, Kim spent a decade in the newspaper and magazine business.