• by Sara Guaglione , September 27, 2018

Skift, a travel industry intelligence and marketing platform, has acquired Airline Weekly, formed a nonprofit foundation and launched a wellness vertical.

The 14-year-old Airline Weekly, a subscription-only newsletter, will remain a separate brand under the Skift company. The current editorial team will continue to operate it.

Read by airline CEOs and senior executives, Airline Weekly covers key airline data, finance and analysis. 

“We have been exploring various ways to expand our roots in the travel sector and go deeper into our existing focus areas with more expertise,” stated Rafat Ali, founder-CEO of Skift.

Skift also produces the free Airline Innovation Report newsletter, which features breaking news, analysis and interviews. It is led by Brian Sumers, Skift’s senior aviation business editor.

“The support and backing of a much bigger media company like Skift will allow us to provide a product and level of service beyond anything imaginable just a few weeks ago,” stated Seth Kaplan, managing partner-cofounder of Airline Weekly.

Skift’s new wellness vertical will be the company’s third. It also posts verticals on travel and dining, called Skift Travel and Skift Table, respectively.

The Skift Wellness weekly newsletter, its launch product, will be a curated brief of articles on the business of modern wellness, such as wellness tech, travel, athleisure, food and beauty.

“Skift Wellness lives where wellness meets commerce, mindfulness meets technology, the yoga studio meets the boardroom, and health meets business,” per the company.

Former Woman’s Day health journalist and editor Leslie Barrie is joining the Skift team as editor of Skift Wellness.

The debut edition of the newsletter will hit inboxes the first week of October.

Skift’s new nonprofit foundation will focus on providing services and monetary grants to under-resourced destinations, organizations and small businesses in the global travel and hospitality sectors. 

The Skift Foundation’s corporate giving will be independent of Skift Travel and Skift Table’s editorial operations.