The Points Guy Adds Edward Russell, Zach Wichter to Growing Aviation Team

Today, The Points Guy, the leading online resource for all things points, miles and resourceful travel experiences, announced Edward "Ned" Russell and Zach Wichter are joining the site's fast-growing aviation team.

Ned is joining us from industry publication FlightGlobal and Zach from The New York Times. Most of our readers' trips begin at the airport, and Ned and Zach bring a wealth of expertise to the TPG team that will better help our audience stay on top of the quickly changing world of aviation.

"The Points Guy has shown significant editorial growth since our launch, and we're doubling down on our commitment to all things aviation by adding these two exceptional reporters to our team," says CEO and founder Brian Kelly. "Ned and Zach follow other big journalism hires we've made during the past year, highlighting our commitment to add even more breaking news, investigative reporting and industry insight to our platform."

Both Ned and Zach will report to Ben Mutzabaugh, TPG's senior aviation editor. Ben came to TPG in March after two decades at USA Today, where he was best known for launching the innovative and award-winning Today in the Sky aviation blog — an industry-leading source of news during its 17-year run.

"It's really incredible to see what a force TPG has become in the short time since its launch, but we're just getting started," Mutzabaugh says. "The challenge of expanding our aviation coverage to include more in-depth reporting is one the things that attracted me to TPG. Now with this all-star team of journalists that we're assembling, stay tuned for even more great things to come."

Ned and Zach will join TPG's already talented aviation team that includes Editor-at-Large Zach Honig, Reviews Editor Nick Ellis and Travel Analyst Zach Griff.

In addition to the newly formed aviation team, TPG's airline coverage also includes top-notch contributors from the site's other editorial sections. Assistant News Editor Jessica Puckett, Associate News Editor Brendan Dorsey, Senior Points and Miles Reporter JT Genter and Managing Editor Alberto Riva are among those that help TPG cover the airlines like no one else.

Ned joins TPG as senior aviation business reporter and will help the site expand its coverage of the all-important airline beat. He is an industry veteran, joining TPG after seven years at FlightGlobal. He led the highly respected trade publication's coverage of mainline US carriers and aviation finance in the Americas. His work has included reporting on the American-US Airways merger, the 787 and 737 MAX groundings and breaking news on airline network and fleet strategy.

Prior to joining FlightGlobal, Ned covered infrastructure finance for Project Finance Magazine in New York and corporate treasury for FinanceAsia in Hong Kong.

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Outside of aviation, Ned is an avid runner and cyclist, with interests in architecture and transit. Ned is a native of Richmond, Virginia, and graduated from The George Washington University. He currently resides in Washington, DC, with his husband and son. Follow Ned on Twitter at @e_russell.

Zach comes to TPG from The New York Times, where he helped guide the venerable newspaper's aviation coverage. His reporting for the Times included the ongoing 737 MAX crisis at Boeing, outages to airline reservations systems and JetBlue's planned London service.

Before joining the Times, Zach worked in production at Dateline NBC and wrote anchor copy for NY1, the iconic New York City news channel. At TPG, Zach will take the title of aviation business reporter — perhaps ironic, since Zach says he once was terrified of flying. He overcame those fears by "obsessively learning about planes and the airline industry." Zach now enjoys both flying and sharing his passion for the topic with others, which he'll have ample opportunity to do at TPG.

Zach grew up in Bethpage, New York, and graduated from Northwestern University. Zach currently resides with his partner in the New York City borough of Queens, "smack dab between JFK and LaGuardia." Follow Zach on Twitter at @zlwichter.