Skift CEO Rafat Ali: New Foundation Found Inspiration in Puerto Rico
*By Amanda Weston*
Puerto Rico ー still recovering a full year after Hurricane Maria's lashing ー was the inspiration for travel insight company Skift's new foundation, according to the company's CEO.
"\[We\] saw the destruction and the recovery firsthand. Our whole team went," Rafat Ali, CEO of Skift, told Cheddar Friday.
The top names in travel gathered in New York this week for the Skift Global Forum to talk travel industry trends, and Ali's company unveiled its new [Skift Foundation](https://skift.org/), which the CEO said will award grants to underfunded tourism destinations.
"We were very moved by it and said, 'We know what we need to do,' which is, let's create a Skift Foundation that ties up with under-resourced destinations like Puerto Rico and others that we can give either our services, our access to high-priced research which they may or may not be able to afford, to our services, marketing, design. We know the best practices in travel," he said.
The new foundation is not the only headline from this year's forum.
Delta ($DAL) CEO Ed Bastian said on Friday that [free in-flight Wi-Fi](https://skift.com/2018/09/28/delta-ceo-declares-free-in-flight-wi-fi-is-coming/) is on the way.
Bastian did not provide an exact date for when the service might debut, but said a new wireless entertainment system is currently in testing mode on new Airbus A220 planes.
Skift reported that JetBlue ($JBLU) is currently the only large, U.S.-based airline that offers free in-flight Wi-Fi.
On the ground, Hyatt Hotels ($H) CEO Mark Hoplamazian announced Thursday the company will [ban hate groups](https://skift.com/2018/09/27/hyatt-ceo-says-hotels-will-ban-hate-groups-we-need-to-draw-the-line/) from its properties.
"That’s really where we need to draw the line," he said. "We’re going to apply our values to making these decisions along the way."
Hoplamazian and other industry CEOs met with President Trump earlier this month to discuss the importance of international travel.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/skift-ceo-talks-travel-tech-new-foundation-at-forum).
Nvidia on Wednesday became the first public company to reach a market capitalization of $5 trillion. The ravenous appetite for the Silicon Valley company’s chips is the main reason that the company’s stock price has increased so rapidly since early 2023.
Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global, breaks down September’s CPI print and inflation trends, explaining what it means for markets.
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
