Aleksejs Romanovs, Managing Director of the Global Inflight Retail Association (GIRA), discusses the recently formed industry organisation…
GIRA [the Global Inflight Retail Association] exists to give inflight retail its own framework. Today, the sector is forced to fit rules built for ground retail, duty-free or e-commerce; none of which reflect how we operate across borders and jurisdictions. Our objective is to define shared standards, benchmarks and a unified regulatory voice for a market that has never had one.
GIRA launched publicly at AmberSky 2026 in Riga this February. GIRA is registered in Riga, Latvia, which serves as the association’s headquarters and legal base. The association also maintains a regulatory presence in Brussels for policy work and a commercial presence in The Hague for industry engagement.
The founding group spans supplier, airline and technology sides. It’s an organisation for any stakeholder dealing with inflight retail: airlines, operators, concessionaires and technology providers. Airline membership is free, recognising their role as hosts of the onboard environment.
Why join GIRA?
Joining gives suppliers and service providers vetted credibility, market data and guaranteed buyer meetings, in addition to lobbying power on tax and regulation. Everyone who joins helps shape the standards and rules that will define our sector.
If you have a stake in onboard commerce, there is a place for you here. The unifying argument for both sides is that inflight retail currently has no framework of its own, and GIRA is building one to give our sector a voice of its own and control over its future.
Suppliers and the wider inflight retail network must not leave airlines to respond to commercial and regulatory challenges alone. We need to anticipate and act as one collective with a single voice, rather than remain subject to decisions made without us.
GIRA’s activities
We have started the work of electing a balanced board, launching a member platform and opening dialogue with policymakers on inflight retail taxation, starting in the EU and with a view to extending worldwide.
We look forward to publishing our first global industry report and a three-year roadmap. Over time, we envision GIRA becoming the body airlines and suppliers turn to for independent benchmarks, shared standards and market data, and a credible voice in policy worldwide.
State of the industry
Inflight retail has moved from trolley sales to connected, data-driven commerce, yet it still operates in grey zones, without shared data definitions or consistent regulatory representation.
GIRA is not a commercial operator; it is an independent and neutral body. That independence is what makes its benchmarks and recommendations credible. We would encourage anyone interested to reach out to info@gira.aero.
