"A $17 billion pot of national security stimulus aid goes begging" by David McLaughlin and Tony Capaccio Bloomberg News, May 14, 2020
There’s a $17 billion pot of money in the pandemic aid package for companies vital to national security — and no one seems to want it.
A lot of small business and workers who won't be going back to work could sure use it, and I don't mean in the form of a debit card!
The $2 trillion rescue package Congress adopted in late March includes loans and loan guarantees specifically for companies ‘‘critical to maintaining national security.’’ The funds at first were seen as largely directed at Boeing, which at the time had been pleading for a government bailout, but after selling $25 billion in bonds to investors, the aircraft maker turned down the aid, which would have come with strings attached that it didn’t like.
With the $17 billion up for grabs, the US defense industry is asking the Trump administration to change the criteria for getting some of it, arguing that the terms are too strict.
The Treasury Department, which has sole authority over the $17 billion, has limited the companies that qualify to those whose work is designated DX, which means it ranks highest on the military’s list of national priorities, or to companies that have facilities with top-secret security clearances.
Only about 20 companies applied by the May 1 deadline, according to the Defense Department. There are about 300,000 companies in the Pentagon’s contractor supply chain.
‘‘What we’re hearing across the board is that the restrictions and requirements on the money are pretty onerous, and a majority of companies just can’t apply for the money,’’ said Hawk Carlisle, president of the National Defense Industrial Association, which represents defense contractors.
Is that a made up name or what?
It’s another example of the Trump administration’s struggle to help businesses that have been decimated by the pandemic. The initial round of $349 billion aimed at small businesses sparked outrage after large restaurant chains, a professional basketball franchise, and numerous publicly traded companies were able to get money while mom-and-pop businesses were shut out. Treasury has approved about $25 billion out of the $35 billion that Congress allocated for payroll assistance to airlines and cargo carriers.
The LA Lakers got $ome loot, and since the turn of May we have been told the PPP has been fixed and is running smoothly, has loaned out another $350 billion (maybe), and "both the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s chief executive, Eric Rosengren, and chairman of the Federal Reserve system, Jerome Powell, highlighted the Fed’s new Main Street Lending Program, which is designed to provide loans to businesses that are struggling because of the pandemic but are too big to take advantage of the government’s Paycheck Protection Program, because “it’s wonderful that we’re at a place now where we can start reopening the economy.”
Of course, not everyone is in lock$tep. Others $ay an expeditious reopening of states was the key to preventing irreversible economic devastation as they offered divergent views about how to mitigate the economic hit from a virus that has shuttered significant amounts of business activity and has already thrown more than 20 million people out of work.
It's actually over 36 million. I don't know why the New York Times is flying low on that, although maybe I do.
On Tuesday, Senator Maria Cantwell, Democrat of Washington, asked Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to broaden the criteria for qualifying for loans and reopen the application process. ‘‘Treasury’s implementation of the loan program has not adequately addressed the needs of the aerospace supply chain and its workforce, which is fundamental to America’s industrial base,’’ she wrote.
For fighter jets, not civilian aircraft.
It’s not just the defense industry raising concerns. Ellen Lord, the Defense Department’s top acquisition official, told reporters last month that Treasury’s criteria may have prevented companies with the greatest need from qualifying. ‘‘We have talked with them several times; they have reached out to us,’’ Lord said. ‘‘I am not sure companies with DX-rated contracts are perhaps the ones that have the most critical needs.’’ She said suppliers already have been giving DX programs priority, which they are required to do under Pentagon rules.
Good Lord!
The Treasury Department didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Congress stipulated that companies receiving the national-security loans must provide the government with warrants, equity, or senior debt securities and agree to limits on dividends, stock buybacks, and executive pay, but it’s Treasury’s additional criteria that defense firms say are too narrow. It restricted loans to two groups: those with a contract with the DX rating or those with facilities that have top-secret security clearances.
Eric Fanning, president of the Aerospace Industries Association, whose members include Lockheed Martin and BAE Systems, said the criteria should be broadened to cover more companies.
The Pentagon doesn’t track the number of companies that possess top-secret clearances, but only the number of facilities cleared at that level, spokeswoman Cynthia McGovern said in an e-mail.
WTF is up with that, especially when they will be the ones vexing us against our will?
Like Boeing, the large companies that might qualify for the Treasury loans are able to tap the capital markets to meet their financing needs, especially now that the Federal Reserve is pumping hundreds of billions of dollars into debt markets by buying corporate bonds and bond funds.
The Pentagon is helping by increasing progress payments by $3 billion and speeding up those payments to contractors, which range from the biggest makers of weapons systems to the more numerous, lower-tier suppliers of everything from software to uniforms, but many contractors also rely on commercial deals to supplement their government work. With the airline industry facing a sharp and lengthy contraction, aviation suppliers could see a greater need for rescue financing in the near future, said Fanning of the aerospace industry group.
I'm so glad, $o $o glad, that the MIC is being well taken care of.
Boeing, for example, in late April said it’s shrinking its workforce by about 10 percent, or about 16,000 jobs, to conserve cash. General Electric Co. is cutting about 13,000 jobs in its jet-engine operation. Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc., a supplier to Airbus and Boeing, is also cutting jobs.
Yes, a fundamental $hift is underway.
‘‘We don’t have a sense yet of where the stress points are in the industrial base,’’ Fanning said. ‘‘The health of supply chains can take a while to sort out and show where there are problems.’’
That's $ick.
--more--"
I know I am out of step as the ballplayers balk at their "civic duty" and get hammered in the corporate pre$$.
"FAA outlines reforms planned after Boeing 737 Max missteps" by Alan Levin Bloomberg News, May 19, 2020
The Federal Aviation Administration released multiple steps it plans to take to change how it reviews aircraft designs, a process that was criticized after two fatal crashes on Boeing Co.’s 737 Max.
The agency is planning on updating regulations to require better internal safety systems at planemakers, avoid “undue pressure” of manufacturers over employees designated by the FAA to aid in certification, and is reexamining how it assumes pilots will react to failures, the agency said in a report to the Department of Transportation Tuesday.
The report is a response to a blue-ribbon panel’s review in January that found the agency needed to update its practices. The 737 Max, Boeing’s best-selling jet, was grounded in March 2019 after a the second of two fatal crashes linked to automated safety system that drove down the nose due to a malfunction.
The FAA said in a statement the blue-ribbon report had found its existing safety processes are generally sound, but they highlight areas where improvement is needed.
Another cover-up comi$$ion.
A total of 346 people died in two crashes. A Lion Air plane went down in the Java Sea shortly after takeoff from Jakarta on Oct. 29, 2018, and an Ethiopian Airlines jet crashed on March 10, 2019. In both cases, a system known as Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System was erroneously driving down the nose and the pilots failed to disable it.
I remember the horror of the first crash; however, I was not on board for the second.
Btw, that is criminal negligence and murder, but Boeing is too big to be brought into the courtroom.
One of the most controversial issues leading to the plane’s design was the long-standing practice of the FAA to give companies such as Boeing authority to review their own designs. The early stages of the MCAS design on the 737 Max were reviewed by the FAA, but the system was later expanded and that work was only approved by Boeing employees.
That's the kind of corporate fa$ci$m we have had around here for a long, long time. The regulators are from the indu$tries they regulate. That's why this country is a $hithole now.
The panel found that the delegation process was appropriate because FAA can’t possibly keep up with the industry’s needs with its relatively small staff; however.....
Of course, the TSA molesters are prolific, and it's not an orange flag they are waving, it's a white flag.
--more--"
Boeing’s 737 Max, involved in two fatal crashes, spurred the FAA to develop changes in how it reviews aircraft design. One goal, it says, is to prevent undue pressure from manufacturers (Elaine Thompson/Associated Press/Associated Press).
I see the mask, but where are the earplugs?
Does he still even have a job?
"Boeing to slash 10 percent of its workforce amid pandemic fallout, Max grounding" by Aaron Gregg Washington Post, April 29, 2020
WASHINGTON — Boeing said Wednesday that it plans a 10 percent staff reduction — more than 14,000 jobs — as the continued grounding of its signature jet combined with a global halt in air travel sapped billions from its once-profitable commercial jet division.
As noted above, it's to con$erve ca$h and I a$$ume the war machine branch is still profitable?
Btw, who made the alleged planes we allegedly saw fly into the WTC towers and Pentagon, as well as the alleged plane that crashed in Pennsylvania?
The company, which reported a loss of $1.7 billion, employs more than 150,000 people globally and said it plans to cut about 10 percent of its total workforce. The report did not provide details on where those job cuts would come from or give a total number of jobs Boeing plans to cut, but the figure would equal more than 14,000 of its US employees.
The 737 Max crisis amplified by the pandemic has cost Boeing, once a Wall Street favorite, $5 billion, the company reported Wednesday. Nonetheless, Boeing stock rose 6.12 percent Wednesday to close at $139.
Yes, in spite of the planned-emic..... sigh.
Chief executive Dave Calhoun said in a video message to employees that the losses would be steeper in the commercial airplane division, based in Renton, Wash.
‘‘Please know that we will do everything we can to minimize that impact, and as we take these steps, we will be as fair and transparent as possible — and absolutely honest and respectful,’’ Calhoun said in the video.
Jet $pew.
The US job cuts will put added strain on an economy already reeling from more than 26 million jobs lost because of the pandemic. The federal government reported Wednesday that fallout from the deadly coronavirus caused the US economy to contract 4.8 percent from January through March. That’s the steepest drop since the financial crisis more than a decade ago.
I was told today that 6 million have been added back to the workforce!
Boeing’s job cuts will create a ripple effect among its many suppliers across the nation.
The company’s 737 Max commercial jetliner has been grounded for more than a year after flawed flight-control systems played a role in two deadly crashes that killed 346 people. The federal government launched criminal and civil investigations after the crashes, including one into whether Boeing misled airlines about the training needed to fly the Max.
Were they ever fined because no criminal charges were brought?
Boeing has been working on changes to the Max, including software fixes and an updated pilot training program, to win approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to return the plane to service.
Would you want to get on one of those?
The company has said it expects that to happen mid-year. The company fired chief executive Dennis Muilenburg in December and stopped production of the Max in January. Still reeling from the Max crisis, the company took a hit months later as the pandemic caused a steep drop in air travel, leading to billions of dollars’ worth of canceled orders for Boeing jets.
Also see: Boeing splits roles of CEO, chairman
Boeing closed several of its plants across the country as employees began to fall ill from the virus. Last week, 27,000 Boeing employees returned to work in the Puget Sound region of Washington state. A few thousand more returned to defense plants outside Philadelphia and Columbus, Ohio.
The company’s first-quarter financial report showed the toll of the combined losses from the Max grounding and the widespread impact from the coronavirus. Boeing reported a quarterly loss of $1.7 billion in the first quarter of 2020. It reported first-quarter revenue of $16.9 billion, 26 percent lower than the previous year’s first quarter.
The decline of Boeing’s commercial airplane division has been swift and dramatic. The company delivered 66 percent fewer airplanes in the first quarter of 2020 compared with the same period last year. Airlines and aircraft leasing companies, which have been floored by a global halt to air traffic, have canceled orders for the grounded 737 Max.
Like a, gulp, nose dive?
Government contracts have suddenly become the largest source of revenue for Boeing, a major shift from previous years. A new Boeing business unit focused on aircraft repair and technical services has held steady as the pace of government contracts has sped up, driven in large part by faster Pentagon spending.
As we $uffer, the war machine must be $ated.
In the first quarter alone Boeing was hit with a $137 million production charge related to COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, in the Seattle area and a $336 million charge related to replacing a cracked airplane part called the pickle fork in its older 737 Next Generation jets.
Aww, poor, criminally negligent Boeing, boo-hoo.
The company’s Arlington, Va.-based defense, space, and security division was also resilient, though there are problems there. The company’s finances were buffeted by a $827 million charge for the KC-46A Tanker, the latest of several such charges.
The company also announced production cuts across its commercial division designed to align the company’s resources more closely with what promises to be significantly smaller post-pandemic demand. Production of the 787 Dreamliner, which occurs at Boeing factories north of Charleston, S.C., will be scaled back from 14 per month to 10 per month, then gradually reduced to seven per month by 2022.
The company says it plans to resume producing 737 Max jets in 2020, though federal aviation authorities have given no indication of when they expect to lift the grounding order. Reentry dates provided by Boeing and others have repeatedly been pushed back as regulators seek new technical fixes.
Boeing executives have estimated that it will take two to three years for operations to return to normal. Even then, the company’s product mix and employment base could look different from its pre-crisis heyday.
Time to disembark.
--more--"
A Boeing airplane manufacturing plant in Renton, Wash. With air travel falling sharply because of the virus, airlines have delayed orders and deliveries of new planes, reducing Boeing's revenue.Elaine Thompson/Associated Press/Associated Press
I wonder what effect the job cuts will have on their mental health:
"Employers scramble to address mental health epidemic" by Arianne Cohen Bloomberg News,May 19, 2020, 8:08 p.m.
As the global death toll from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic climbs, employers are scrambling to address the explosive rates of anxiety, depression, substance abuse, and potential suicides that have emerged along with it.
Who didn't see that coming, and sadly, it's ALL PART of the PLAN!
Like the virus itself, this secondary epidemic is expected to affect far more people than the existing health care system can address, leaving employers to pick up the slack.
If you are lucky enough to keep the job, right?
The numbers are daunting. Vida Health, a digital network of therapists and clinicians that works with companies like Cisco, Visa, PayPal, and Boeing, has seen 15 percent to 20 percent week-on-week increases in mental health and stress-related appointments since mid-March, and a 30 percent to 50 percent boost in new client interest. ‘‘Everyone is looking for virtual mental health care right now,’’ chief executive Stephanie Tilenius said. ‘‘We’re just hiring as fast as we can.’’
That is f**king $ick, folks.
Just under one-fifth of a company’s employees typically have a mental health disorder, as evidenced on health insurance claims, Tilenius said. In recent weeks, that number has risen to between 60 percent and 70 percent. ‘‘Everybody’s got some level of anxiety with this pandemic,’’ she said.
Elke Van Hoof, a psychologist who specializes in stress and burnout, says companies need to provide a tight web of tools and support for employees during the course of the regular workday. Examples include webinars on topics like pandemic resilience and work-life balance. Organizations should also have staffers trained on both early signs of psychological struggle and how to intervene.
This as the guy is swinging from a rope during the next "chat."
Most larger companies in Europe already have this infrastructure in place due to European Union occupational safety legislation. Employers are obliged to ensure mental and social well-being, regularly evaluate it, and address lagging areas while maintaining employee privacy-which is most easily accomplished through a well-being department. Specific practices vary country by country, but many companies have a chief well-being officer or chief happiness officer specifically focused on these tasks. ‘‘It’s a very good and efficient system to reduce long-term absence and dropout,’’ Van Hoof said.
You guys think we are fools?
Going to drug us up to smiley face $tatu$ like Huxley said?
Axa Belgium, a Paris-based insurance company, has beefed up existing infrastructure. The company already employed a well-being team of eight and trains managers how to converse with employees about mental health, allowing them to intervene before problems arise.
‘‘People that already had difficulties before the pandemic, now life becomes even more difficult because it’s an extra layer of problems,’’ said Axa chief happiness officer Elke Aelbrecht, who works out of the company’s Brussels office. The company created digital tool kits for both employees and managers on relevant topics like stress, fear, insecurity, and parenting.
US employers usually don’t take such a direct approach. Mental health triage often falls to HR departments, and chief well-being officers are few and far between. Most companies instead offer workers access to treatment through insurance benefits and employee assistance programs (EAP), while also pushing subscriptions to meditation and stress relief platforms.
Such perks are popular. Intuit, which is transitioning to remote work, says its 9,400 employees have completed 42,661 stress relief and well-being sessions on the platform Whil in the past five weeks — nearly the same number of sessions logged in the two years prior. The company is providing ten extra days of paid time off, plus another 20 days of family support time employees can use in small chunks, like an afternoon off for home schooling.
Everything okay where the print ends!
Don't you feel a lot better considering where the article began?
While extra time off will help employees manage stress, vacation alone does not actually lower stress unless it is part of a coordinated effort to address the factors causing it, such as job uncertainty or financial strains, Van Hoof said.
The stigma around mental health remains endemic in America. Employees largely remain quiet about personal challenges, and depression alone costs employers over $100 billion per year, mostly in missed work and low productivity. While many companies have expanded EAP programs, only a fraction of eligible workers take advantage of them.
Endemics, planned-emits, and lo$t profits.
One can hardly keep their head from $pinning!
‘‘We have a long way to go to eliminate stigma,’’ said Elyse Cohen, senior director of health, wellness and food programs at the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation. ‘‘The pandemic has catapulted business leaders into leaning into an issue that they may have shied away from.’’
Another f**king foundation, and one can only wonder who funds it!
Van Hoof says normalizing the fact that anyone can suffer is key to removing such stigma. Rather than labeling a worker as, say, depressed or sleep disordered, she emphasizes the underlying and often relatable issues: cognitive fatigue or an inability to re-energize. ‘‘It should be normalized so that people are open about it and can proactively seek help as soon as possible,’’ she said.
The coronavirus pandemic is a difficult situation for everyone, not just those with preexisting mental health conditions. Some are struggling with fear or loneliness, while others are melting down while working at home with children. Companies that provide better care for workers at this time will likely emerge stronger for it.
‘‘This is a defining moment for the reputation of companies,’’ says Scott Beth, Intuit’s chief diversity and inclusion officer. ‘‘Five years from now, people will remember how their companies treated them during the most profound shock of our work lifetimes, and it will really speak to our brands and our reputations for a very, very long time.’’
Those that are left.
--more--"
Related:
"The damage to labor markets around the world is proving far more severe than initially estimated after governments extended shutdowns to damp the spread of the coronavirus. The International Labour Organization said Wednesday that working hours will be 10.5 percent lower this quarter than before the crisis started, equivalent to 305 million full-time jobs. The figure marks what it described as a “significant deterioration” on its previous estimate of 195 million jobs," and a late-day slide erased early strength in technology stocks and companies that rely on consumer spending.
Also see:
"American Airlines reported a staggering loss of $2.24 billion for the first quarter, when the coronavirus pandemic triggered a sharp drop in air travel. The airline’s revenue fell 19 percent while costs continued to rise even as the virus spread. The situation facing the airline industry has grown more dire since the first quarter ended. Air travel within the US has plunged 95 percent from a year ago, judging by the number of people screened at the nation’s airports. American’s massive loss compared with a profit of $185 million in the same quarter last year. American said that adjusted for non-recurring items, it lost $2.65 per share. That was worse than the average forecast of a $2.08 per share loss from 15 analysts surveyed by FactSet. American estimated that it ended March with $6.8 billion in cash and other liquidity, including $2 billion that it raised during the first quarter, and will have $11 billion at the end of June. The Fort Worth, Texas-based airline has cut its flying schedule by 80 percent in April and May and 70 percent in June. It has grounded hundreds of planes. Nearly 39,000 employees have accepted early retirement, partially paid leave or fewer hours of work. Cheaper fuel caused by the collapse in energy prices will contribute to a reduction of more than $12 billion in its 2020 spending, the airline said."
"United Airlines will cut at least 30 percent of its managerial and administrative jobs when government restrictions lift in October, bracing for a prolonged travel slump in the age of COVID-19. In addition to cutting the roughly 3,500 positions, the company will require that management and administrative employees take 20 days off without pay between May 16 and Sept. 30 to help pare costs, Kate Gebo, executive vice president of human resources, said in an internal memo Monday."
Related:
SAS to cut as many as 5,000 jobs as travel collapses
Southwest cuts nunber of new planes
Frontier Airlines helps passengers keep their distance for $39
Pilot union wants federal regulations for airplane cleaning
Travel from NYC seeded wave of US outbreaks
Time to start taxiing down the runway:
"A man was struck and killed by a commercial jet landing on a runway at an Austin, Texas, airport, authorities said....."
The plane was headed for France:
"Airbus chief Guillaume Faury warned employees that the planemaker is ‘‘bleeding cash’’ and needs to quickly cut costs to adapt to a radically shrinking industry. With airline customers fighting to survive and unable to accept new aircraft, Airbus is juggling its delivery schedules while reassessing its long-term outlook for the aerospace industry, Faury told staff in a letter sent Friday and seen by Bloomberg News. A plan to slash production by one-third announced earlier this month may not reflect the worst-case scenario, he said. Boeing on Saturday walked away from a $4.2 billion plan to combine its jetliner business with Brazil’s Embraer."
The French government says Airbus has no immediate need for aid.
Of course, the French failed to contain COVID-19, and "the Merkel-Macron deal is being viewed by some as a historic breakthrough as they affirm loud and clear their determination to see solidarity among European Union, and the fund would be a one-off part of the EU’s budget and take advantage of EU institutions’ ability to borrow at extremely low interest rates for long periods" because Germany expects the fallout from the coronavirus to lead to the worst economic contraction in the post-war era, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter."
Of course, it is way too late for that (finding a balance between meeting the promise of one- or two-day delivery and keeping employees safe has been a challenge for the company ever since the pandemic but it didn't $top Bezo$ from ca$hing in and setting Amazon up $tronger than ever) as Amazon is gradually reopening its warehouses in France after consulting with unions on new virus safety measures, in an effort to end weeks of legal troubles that had sharply curtailed the company’s business.
Maybe they should move offshore to England:
"Britain has recorded more than 40,000 deaths linked to coronavirus, making it the first country in Europe to reach the threshold. The government is facing calls to be more open about its strategy to combat COVID-19, with some lawmakers calling for the publication of the scientific advice behind Britain’s response to the virus....."
Time to bring the curtain down on that.
{@@##$$%%^^&&}
Okay, forget all of the above and enjoy your flight (non-smoking, of course):
A man wore a gas mask as he traveled on a flight from Miami to Atlanta last week. (CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images).
"Plane travel is smoother now, but ‘it’s definitely not the friendly skies’; So much leg room, but nowhere to go" by Adam Vaccaro Globe Staff, May 4, 2020
No traffic in the tunnel, long queues for security, or jockeying for boarding at the gates. You’ll probably have a row to yourself; some passengers even get the whole plane to themselves.
What a shame!
With air travel down 95 percent or more amid the coronavirus pandemic, all the hassle of flying has been vacuumed away instantaneously. It almost sounds luxurious for those few still taking to the skies — for once, an experience befitting the whimsies of air travel, but even floating above the world for a few hours, there are the constant reminders of the havoc down below. The flights, after all, are so empty and clean for a reason.
How is that helping the environment?
“It was very quiet, very somber. I think everybody was very afraid and concerned,” said Greg John, a Boston public affairs consultant who flew north from a second home in Florida in April on a plane with fewer than 20 people. “The first thing the flight attendants did was offer you Lysol wipes if you didn’t have one.”
Airlines first began requiring crews to wear masks, and now major US carriers are mandating that passengers wear them, too. Many flyers already were wearing them voluntarily, and some passengers have been spotted wearing full-on hazmat-style suits. In-flight service on many airlines is now limited to bottles of water and a small packaged snack. At the airport, most of the coffee shops and stores are closed, and good luck finding a bar for that preflight martini.
“Airports are clean. The number of people is minuscule, but the food options are horrible,” said Bill Spinney, a Tennessee resident who is staying with his parents on the South Shore during the crisis and had to fly to Tampa Bay in late April to help an elderly family friend move. All he could find at Logan was one open Dunkin’, and a Burger King at the airport where he caught his connecting flight to Tampa, and with virtually all leisure travel at a halt, those who are still boarding planes would almost certainly rather not be, as often it is tragedy that is forcing them to take to the skies.
The food service will be coming below.
Melissa Marr of Plaistow, N.H., had no intention of flying to North Carolina last month, where her 10-year-old daughter was staying with her ex-husband for part of the pandemic. Instead, she planned to drive down the coast and meet halfway to pick up her daughter, but those plans changed when her ex’s girlfriend unexpectedly died of a blood clotting issue, and he no longer was in any position to drive several hundred miles. So she quickly booked a flight south, and when she arrived, she walked off the plane and met her daughter inside the terminal. The pair promptly boarded the same plane for the trip back to Boston. “It was really our only option at the time,” Marr said. “They were doing the [funeral] arrangements and such. It didn’t exactly work out the way we planned."
Logan was eerily quiet and no more than 20 people were on her JetBlue flight; at least one was dressed in a hazmat suit, but the flight itself was not nerve-racking, she said, because there were so few people on it, and the plane was obviously well cleaned. “I figured it was probably cleaner than the grocery store at this point,” she said.
Did you know JetBlue was the first major US airline to require masks for passengers?
Industry analysts say hardly anybody is traveling for pleasure at this point. Some may be heading toward elderly family members to help them cope during the pandemic. Others may be essential workers, medical professionals rushing to a virus hot spot, or individuals with urgent personal or medical issues, said Henry Harteveldt of the Atmosphere Research Group, a firm that monitors the travel industry. “The people who are flying right now are the people who need to fly. There are no joy riders taking trips,” he said. “It’s definitely not the friendly skies.”
Jennifer Mehigan, a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Port Authority, which operates Logan, added that some portion of those flying out of Boston are simply those who work for the airlines themselves. “We are a commuter hub for airline workers, so many crew members [are] heading home or to work if they are based out of another city,” she said. During the week of April 20-26, 10,463 people flew out of Logan, down 97.5 percent from the same week one year ago. Airlines are canceling huge portions of flights, though they are required to maintain certain service levels between cities if they received federal funds from the CARES Act rescue bill passed by Congress.
They are flying nearly empty planes because of the federal government?
In an earlier stage of the pandemic, plane tickets were incredibly cheap — $15 or $20 for a flight to Florida from Boston, for example. Those have mostly gone away, as airlines acknowledged the low prices may have inspired travel that wouldn’t have otherwise happened, but even with those deals on the table, air travel still dropped precipitously, indicating few people could be induced into a trip for now, but there may be some unnecessary travel happening here and there, argued Paul Hudson, president of FlyersRights, a consumer advocacy organization. While airlines offer full refunds on flights that have been canceled, they are typically providing only vouchers for flights that remain on schedule. Since they’re not getting their money back, Hudson said, those passengers may feel like they might as well still take the trip.
“They could get a voucher, which was limited but in many cases they were not something people would want or use," he said. "So some people would say, ‘We might as well go ... we don’t want to lose something.’”
Indeed, the we’re-sorry voucher remains an air travel irritation. Spinney, the Tennessee resident who flew to Florida, paid a little extra to board his Southwest Airlines flight early, hoping to avoid contact with other passengers, but with only a dozen or so people flying, everybody was called to board all at once, and Spinney didn’t get a cash refund. “They eliminated their awful boarding process," he said. “They gave me my $25 in a voucher.”
--more--"
We are AIRBORN, readers:
U.S. Navy Blue Angels and U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds fly over the Philadelphia skyline to honor first responders, doctors and nurses on Tuesday, April 28, 2020.
/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-mco.s3.amazonaws.com/public/NLE5TIP7CFAVPGBDDLNVBKHE3E.jpg)
--source--
Is it just me, or does the damn WTC 1 tower look like a F**KING SYRINGE?
How are the hero fly-bys helping the environment, btw?
"Solar and onshore wind power are now the cheapest new sources of electricity in at least two-thirds of the world’s population, further threatening the two fossil-fuel stalwarts — coal and natural gas. The levelized cost of electricity for onshore wind projects has fallen 9 percent to $44 a megawatt-hour since the second half of last year. Solar declined 4 percent to $50 a megawatt-hour, according to a report Tuesday by BloombergNEF. The prices are even lower in countries including the United States, China, and Brazil. Equipment costs have come down, technologies have improved, and governments across the world have boosted clean-power targets as they seek to combat climate change."
Turns out coal is a big loser as electricity demand plummets -- at least, outside New England:
"April was pretty cold and damp, and Boston had its lowest high temperature for the month on record, according to the National Weather Service. The city hit 62 degrees on April 6 and 7, but that’s the warmest it got for the month — the first time this has happened since Boston weather records were first kept in 1872, said meteorologist Alan Dunham. “We haven’t gotten into any real warm spells,” Dunham said Thursday. “We’ve had a lot of rain and clouds for the month." The average temperature in Boston from April 1 through 29 was 44.5 degrees, making this April the 19th coldest on record, Dunham said. The lowest temperature this month was 31 degrees on April 1. Boston was also 3.5 degrees below average this April, compared to 3.6 degrees above average for this month last year. Thursday marked the 18th day in a row where Boston has had at least a trace of precipitation, Dunham said."
It's a brief because it doesn't fit the agenda-pu$hing narrative.
"If you thought it was unseasonably chilly Wednesday morning, you’re absolutely right. In Boston, the mercury dropped to 37 degrees, which broke the previous record of 38 degrees that was set back in 1878 and 1882, according to the National Weather Service. “That’s a pretty longstanding record — that’s now gone by the wayside,” said Alan Dunham, a meteorologist with the weather service. At 5:19 a.m., the National Weather Service tweeted that it was 30 degrees in Orange; 33 in Chicopee and Worcester; 34 in Fitchburg and Westfield; and 36 in Bedford, Lawrence, and New Bedford. Snow was also observed in some communities in Western Massachusetts. NWS Boston/Norton Skywarn, the weather service’s amateur radio station, retweeted photos showing a light coating of snow that had fallen in Shutesbury and Plainfield on Wednesday morning. Researchers at the Mount Washington Observatory saw even colder weather Wednesday morning. As of 9:55 a.m., the windchill recorded on the mountain was a freezing -13 degrees, and wind gusts reached nearly 97 mph, according to the Observatory’s website....."
It's getting colder, not warmer, and that report was from May 14, and "it wasn’t just cold in Boston, either, as temperatures hovered at or below the freezing mark in several other places around the state" -- according to the Roundup.
Look, there is ice on the wings!
"Airline business is staggering, but it’s apt to get worse" by Niraj Chokshi, May 10, 2020
NEW YORK — Delta Air Lines started 2020 celebrating what it said was the most successful year in company history. Not long after, it shared a record $1.6 billion in profits with its 90,000 employees, but with air travel nearly shut down by the coronavirus, the airline is now bleeding money and will drop 10 more airports from its already skeletal network Wednesday.
They have also had to halt flights to Worcester after 60+ years.
Even as Delta and the other major airlines in the United States dramatically slash schedules, they are averaging an anemic 23 passengers on each domestic flight and losing $350 million to $400 million a day as expenses like payroll, rent, and aircraft maintenance far exceed the money they are bringing in.
Passenger traffic is down about 94 percent, and half of the industry’s 6,215 planes are parked at major airports and desert airstrips, according to Airlines for America, a trade group; yet, devastating as the downturn has been, the future is even bleaker.
With much of the world closed for business, and no widely available vaccine in sight, it may be months, if not years, before airlines operate as many flights as they did before the crisis. Even when people start flying again, the industry could be transformed, much as it was after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. And airline executives need only look in the not-distant past to see how lesser crises sank carriers that were household names, like Pan Am and Trans World Airlines.
The crisis could push some airlines, especially smaller ones, into bankruptcy or make them takeover targets. Consumer fears about catching the virus on planes could lead to reconfigured seating. Carriers may initially entice wary travelers with discounts, but if they can’t fill up flights, they may resort to raising ticket prices.
The discounts didn't last, and that means no more Wings reruns.
Henry Harteveldt, president of Atmosphere Research Group, a travel analysis firm in San Francisco, said carriers might continue to leave middle seats empty in coach “until they see demand exceed two-thirds of where it was before the pandemic.” Now, he said, “You can be benevolent. It’s easy to give away a product that you don’t have any demand for.”
What about leg room?
To get through the next few months, airlines successfully lobbied for a huge federal rescue, but half of that money was intended to cover payrolls, and that will run out by the end of September. Few in the industry expect Congress or the public to tolerate another bailout. So, for now, airlines are preparing for a long, lonely fight for survival.
Awwwwwwww!
Maybe another 9/11 will further bail them out, huh?
No amount of foresight could have prepared the industry for the pandemic.....
Hmmmm!
--more--"
How are the hero fly-bys helping the environment, btw?
"Solar and onshore wind power are now the cheapest new sources of electricity in at least two-thirds of the world’s population, further threatening the two fossil-fuel stalwarts — coal and natural gas. The levelized cost of electricity for onshore wind projects has fallen 9 percent to $44 a megawatt-hour since the second half of last year. Solar declined 4 percent to $50 a megawatt-hour, according to a report Tuesday by BloombergNEF. The prices are even lower in countries including the United States, China, and Brazil. Equipment costs have come down, technologies have improved, and governments across the world have boosted clean-power targets as they seek to combat climate change."
Turns out coal is a big loser as electricity demand plummets -- at least, outside New England:
"April was pretty cold and damp, and Boston had its lowest high temperature for the month on record, according to the National Weather Service. The city hit 62 degrees on April 6 and 7, but that’s the warmest it got for the month — the first time this has happened since Boston weather records were first kept in 1872, said meteorologist Alan Dunham. “We haven’t gotten into any real warm spells,” Dunham said Thursday. “We’ve had a lot of rain and clouds for the month." The average temperature in Boston from April 1 through 29 was 44.5 degrees, making this April the 19th coldest on record, Dunham said. The lowest temperature this month was 31 degrees on April 1. Boston was also 3.5 degrees below average this April, compared to 3.6 degrees above average for this month last year. Thursday marked the 18th day in a row where Boston has had at least a trace of precipitation, Dunham said."
It's a brief because it doesn't fit the agenda-pu$hing narrative.
"If you thought it was unseasonably chilly Wednesday morning, you’re absolutely right. In Boston, the mercury dropped to 37 degrees, which broke the previous record of 38 degrees that was set back in 1878 and 1882, according to the National Weather Service. “That’s a pretty longstanding record — that’s now gone by the wayside,” said Alan Dunham, a meteorologist with the weather service. At 5:19 a.m., the National Weather Service tweeted that it was 30 degrees in Orange; 33 in Chicopee and Worcester; 34 in Fitchburg and Westfield; and 36 in Bedford, Lawrence, and New Bedford. Snow was also observed in some communities in Western Massachusetts. NWS Boston/Norton Skywarn, the weather service’s amateur radio station, retweeted photos showing a light coating of snow that had fallen in Shutesbury and Plainfield on Wednesday morning. Researchers at the Mount Washington Observatory saw even colder weather Wednesday morning. As of 9:55 a.m., the windchill recorded on the mountain was a freezing -13 degrees, and wind gusts reached nearly 97 mph, according to the Observatory’s website....."
It's getting colder, not warmer, and that report was from May 14, and "it wasn’t just cold in Boston, either, as temperatures hovered at or below the freezing mark in several other places around the state" -- according to the Roundup.
Look, there is ice on the wings!
"Airline business is staggering, but it’s apt to get worse" by Niraj Chokshi, May 10, 2020
NEW YORK — Delta Air Lines started 2020 celebrating what it said was the most successful year in company history. Not long after, it shared a record $1.6 billion in profits with its 90,000 employees, but with air travel nearly shut down by the coronavirus, the airline is now bleeding money and will drop 10 more airports from its already skeletal network Wednesday.
They have also had to halt flights to Worcester after 60+ years.
Even as Delta and the other major airlines in the United States dramatically slash schedules, they are averaging an anemic 23 passengers on each domestic flight and losing $350 million to $400 million a day as expenses like payroll, rent, and aircraft maintenance far exceed the money they are bringing in.
Passenger traffic is down about 94 percent, and half of the industry’s 6,215 planes are parked at major airports and desert airstrips, according to Airlines for America, a trade group; yet, devastating as the downturn has been, the future is even bleaker.
With much of the world closed for business, and no widely available vaccine in sight, it may be months, if not years, before airlines operate as many flights as they did before the crisis. Even when people start flying again, the industry could be transformed, much as it was after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. And airline executives need only look in the not-distant past to see how lesser crises sank carriers that were household names, like Pan Am and Trans World Airlines.
The crisis could push some airlines, especially smaller ones, into bankruptcy or make them takeover targets. Consumer fears about catching the virus on planes could lead to reconfigured seating. Carriers may initially entice wary travelers with discounts, but if they can’t fill up flights, they may resort to raising ticket prices.
The discounts didn't last, and that means no more Wings reruns.
Henry Harteveldt, president of Atmosphere Research Group, a travel analysis firm in San Francisco, said carriers might continue to leave middle seats empty in coach “until they see demand exceed two-thirds of where it was before the pandemic.” Now, he said, “You can be benevolent. It’s easy to give away a product that you don’t have any demand for.”
What about leg room?
To get through the next few months, airlines successfully lobbied for a huge federal rescue, but half of that money was intended to cover payrolls, and that will run out by the end of September. Few in the industry expect Congress or the public to tolerate another bailout. So, for now, airlines are preparing for a long, lonely fight for survival.
Awwwwwwww!
Maybe another 9/11 will further bail them out, huh?
No amount of foresight could have prepared the industry for the pandemic.....
Hmmmm!
--more--"
Here is some reading material now that we are cruising at high altitude:
"TripAdvisor cuts 900 jobs as it reduces workforce by 25 percent, closes Boston office" by Anissa Gardizy Globe Correspondent, April 28, 2020
Needham-based TripAdvisor Inc. will cut 900 jobs worldwide and close its satellite offices in Boston and San Francisco as the coronavirus continues to wreak havoc with the travel industry.
The public company said Tuesday that it is eliminating 600 jobs in the United States and Canada and 300 more in other countries as part of a 25 percent reduction in its global workforce. TripAdvisor will also put an undisclosed number of employees on furlough in the hope that they can return to work later this year.
CEO Steve Kaufer wrote in a blog post that the pandemic has forced the travel company to move beyond its initial contingency plans, which included cutting discretionary expenses and furloughs.
The company plans to reduce its retail footprint, too, closing its downtown Boston and San Francisco office buildings, and allowing those employees to continue working remotely. Boston employees could also work out of company headquarters in Needham, Kaufer said. “The last several weeks have demonstrated that we are effective working from home,” Kaufer wrote. “We have been and will continue to more fully embrace a remote work culture.”
Nobody is flying anywhere, but..... whatever.
Kaufer said he hopes the the company’s deep cuts mean another broad, global layoff won’t be necessary, even if recovery takes longer than expected.....
--more--"
Related:
TripAdvisor furloughs 850 amid coronavirus travel crisis
The travel indu$try continues to see ma$$ive disruption from COVID-19.
Good time for the food service:
"Airline catering workers getting infected, hospitalized at high rate, union says; Historic lack of health insurance and expense of employer plans puts workers providing food and drink to passengers at greater risk" by Katie Johnston Globe Staff, April 28, 2020
Airlines are carrying only a fraction of the passengers they did before the coronavirus pandemic struck, but thousands of airline catering workers are still on the job, preparing meals, packaging snack boxes, filling carts with drinks — and loading them on planes flying all over the world.
??????
Is anybody eating the "horrible food?"
This largely hidden workforce, made up primarily of immigrants and people of color, many of whom can’t afford health insurance, is at great risk of contracting the virus, according to one of the unions that represent them. Which means the passengers they’re feeding could be at higher risk, too.
Are they really e$$ential?
At least 74 of the nearly 14,000 national Unite Here members who work for LSG Sky Chefs and Gate Gourmet, the two largest airline catering companies in the country, have tested positive for COVID-19, according to union estimates. Nine have died. In Boston, there have been 15 confirmed cases, including a woman from Revere who died and a woman who spent two weeks on a ventilator at Massachusetts General Hospital.
In fact, Sky Chefs workers at Logan International Airport are getting infected and hospitalized at much higher rates than any other group of Local 26 members still working in hotels, dining halls, and at the convention center field hospital, said president Carlos Aramayo. This is in part because the largely Black and brown workers at the airport have historically had limited access to health care, he said, which means they tend to have higher rates of diabetes and heart disease and are therefore at greater risk of severe infection. These workers are also low-paid subcontractors whose employer-sponsored health insurance is more expensive than any other group represented by Local 26, Aramayo noted, and as a result they are far more likely to be uninsured and less likely to seek medical care.
Some are on MassHealth, the state’s Medicaid program, but others make too much money to qualify. (The median Sky Chefs wage at Logan is $13.80 an hour.) This combination of factors puts workers in a “particularly dangerous situation on the front lines of this crisis,” Aramayo said, and these workers aren’t just in danger themselves, union officials point out. The products they handle go on planes that fly around the world, creating the potential of spreading disease far and wide. “The airlines can’t talk about the safety of their planes without talking about their supply chains, and we’re part of the supply chain," said D. Taylor, president of Unite Here.
Maybe they should be completely grounded.
Both catering companies said safety was their top priority.....
That was when I was done eating crap.
--more--"
{@@##$$%%^^&&}
And upon landing:
Uber to require drivers and passengers to wear masks
They will use tech to check if drivers are wearing masks, and you get a discount on in$urance if the vehicle sits idle because Uber bookings dropped for the first time last quarter as they cut 3,000 more jobs. There are ongoing negotiations but the talks still could fall apart, people cautioned, as the drivers have been told to return to work but worry they won’t be safe.
Better grab a Lyft instead:
"Lyft said it will eliminate the jobs of almost 1,000 employees across the company, or about 17 percent of its workforce, responding to plummeting demand for rides and cratering revenue in the economic slowdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The San Francisco company also will furlough about 5 percent of employees who handle operations who have been suspended during the virus outbreak and cut pay for all employees for the next three months, Lyft said Wednesday in a companywide e-mail. The company also will shut down scooter operations in Austin, Texas, and in Oakland and San Jose, Calif., to cut back on maintenance costs."
That drew legal action:
"California’s attorney general and a coalition of city attorneys in the state sued Uber and Lyft on Tuesday, claiming the companies wrongfully classified their drivers as independent contractors in violation of a state law that makes them employees. The law, known as Assembly Bill 5, requires companies to treat their workers as employees instead of contractors if they control how workers perform tasks or if the work is a routine part of a company’s business. At least 1 million gig workers in the state are affected by the law, which is supposed to give them a path to benefits like a minimum wage and unemployment insurance that have been traditionally withheld from independent contractors."
Maybe you should just rent-a-car:
"Hertz, the rental-car firm, is running low on cash and hasn’t made certain payments related to leasing vehicles for its fleet as it engages in talks with lenders to reduce the obligations. With travel virtually ground to a halt across much of the globe, Hertz has furloughed employees and is trying to further reduce monthly expenses to lease vehicles from its special-purpose vehicle-finance subsidiary. While the company said in a regulatory filing that it’s reached an agreement with holders of the subsidiary’s notes, talks with lenders are ongoing."
"Hertz reached an 11th-hour pact with lenders to give the struggling rental-car company more time to rework its debt and extend a grace period on payments it has missed related to leasing vehicles. The forbearances and waivers give the company until May 22 to “develop a financing strategy and structure that better reflects the economic impact of the COVID-19 global pandemic,” Hertz said in a regulatory filing. The rental-car company had been talking with some of its creditors about how to ease its burden without going through bankruptcy, and the company was preparing to file for Chapter 11 court protection if needed, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who asked for anonymity to discuss the confidential talks."
Credit goes to the new CEO.
Why not park at the long-term lot then, what with the price of gas being so low?
"General Motors suspended its dividend and the share-buyback program activist investors fought for over the last half decade as the largest US automaker seeks to preserve cash in the midst of the pandemic that is shutting down much of the car industry. The measures were a condition for GM to amend a credit agreement with banks so that its $3.6 billion revolver now matures in April 2022, extending it by a year. The moves announced Monday follow other cash-preservation measures taken at the beginning of this month, when the company deferred 20 percent of salaried workers’ pay, cut top executives’ compensation, and put 6,500 employees on leave."
Aren't they making ventilators now?
There are no motorcycles for rent, so you will have to scoot the rest of the way to the hotel (Paris stayed there!):
"Scooter-rental startup Lime plans to terminate jobs across the United States and Europe this week, said people familiar with the matter, the latest sign of trouble for sharing-economy businesses reeling from the coronavirus pandemic. The cuts will affect as many as 190 workers, some of whom have already been informed of their dismissal, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified discussing personnel matters. Management elected to expand an earlier plan to eliminate 50 to 70 jobs as it became clear the virus poses a prolonged threat to the business. Over the past three weeks, about 10 jobs were terminated in Europe each week, the person said. Some 60 people in Europe will have lost their jobs by Friday, the person said, along with 130 in the United States."
The only way left is by boat, and that will provide fresh food for East Boston families.
Time to find a flop:
"Airbnb is laying off 25 percent of its workforce as it confronts a steep decline in global travel due to the new coronavirus. In a letter to employees, CEO Brian Chesky said the company is letting 1,900 of its 7,500 workers go and cutting businesses that don’t directly support home-sharing, like its investments in hotels and movie production. Chesky said departing employees will receive at least 14 weeks of their base pay. US employees will continue to receive health care coverage for a year."
After you cleaned the place up so nice:
"IRobot lays off 70, halts lawn mower development; The Bedford maker of the Roomba vacuum has been hit hard by the pandemic shutdown" by Hiawatha Bray Globe Staff, April 29, 2020
Bedford-based iRobot, the leading US maker of robots for consumers, is cutting 70 jobs and shelving plans to introduce a robotic lawn mower, as the pandemic has prompted a big drop in revenues and profits.
The Rockefeller lock$tep notes a period of less innovation after the planned-emic, and we will soon be reverting to Stalin's Soviet Union where $cience mu$t conform to official dogma.
The job cuts were revealed late Tuesday as iRobot reported its first-quarter financial results. The company posted revenue of $192.5 million, down 19 percent from the same period last year, and a net loss of $18.1 million, or 64 cents a share, compared to net income of $22.5 million, or 78 cents a share, last year.
The job cuts amount to 5 percent of the workforce and mostly involve research and development. The company also furloughed an additional 14 workers involved with European retail activities and said it would cut the number of people it plans to hire this year.
The company said that in conjunction with the layoffs, it has suspended its plans to bring to market a new self-guided lawn mower called Terra. IRobot said the pandemic has significantly delayed its plan to introduce the product.
“We believe that the market for Terra is very real and exciting," chief executive Colin Angle said. “It was just the wrong time.” He refused to comment on plans for the mower. “There are too many unknowns at this time,” he said.
Angle also said that iRobot is shifting its mix of R&D spending to focus more on software enhancements for its Roomba floor sweepers and Braava automated mops.
“We’ve moved to thinking about our robots more as platforms that are enhanced by the software,” he said. The most advanced Roomba and Braava machines generate digital maps of the user’s home and can be remotely controlled via smartphone apps. Angle said the company will continue to add capabilities to these machines by tweaking their software.
IRobot also reported the federal government has granted its request to be excluded from Trump administration tariffs on imports from China. The exclusion is valid until Aug. 7 and entitles iRobot to seek refunds on $47 million in tariffs it already paid.
Angle said he couldn’t provide specific guidance on iRobot’s future financial performance, though he predicted “meaningful improvement” in the second half of the year and a return to profitability.
--more--"
Time for a work out before bed:
"Gold’s Gym International Inc. sought court protection from its creditors, unable to keep up with debt payments after the prolonged shutdown caused by the coronavirus outbreak. The gym operator filed for bankruptcy in Dallas, listing as much as $100 million in assets and liabilities, according to court papers. Gold’s blamed the bankruptcy on the pandemic, which forced its fitness studios to shut."
Looks like Peloton is the big winner with those working out at home, and there is a package on your doorstep:
"United Parcel Service Inc. reported a 13 percent drop in first-quarter profit, to $965 million, as stay-at-home orders generated deliveries to people’s homes but not enough to offset the higher costs and a drop in business deliveries. UPS said Tuesday that the coronavirus outbreak has created “significant headwinds.’’ The package-delivery company withdrew forecasts about future revenue and profit, saying it couldn’t predict the depth or duration of the pandemic’s impact on its business. The company said it expects to cut capital spending this year by $1 billion and it is suspending share buybacks, reducing planned full-year spending on buybacks by $783 million."
They are going to start delivering by drone.
UPDATE:
"Boeing is cutting more than 12,000 jobs through layoffs and buyouts as it suffers from a sharp drop in air travel due to the coronavirus pandemic, and more cuts are coming. The company said Wednesday that it will lay off 6,770 US employees this week, and another 5,520 workers are taking buyout offers to leave voluntarily in the coming weeks. Boeing previously said it would cut 10 percent of a work force that numbered about 160,000. A Boeing spokesperson said Wednesday’s actions represent the largest number of job cuts, but several thousand additional jobs will be eliminated in the next few months."
You're grounded!
Also see:
Volkswagen Settles Emissions Charges Against Two Managers
"Germany’s Volkswagen has pulled a social media ad for a new car and apologized after an outcry over its racist overtones. The ten-second spot posted on Instagram and Twitter shows a massive white hand pushing a black man away from beside a new yellow Volkswagen Golf parked on the street, then moving him to an open doorway and flicking him inside a French cafe. Commentators on social media also noted that as the German-language slogan “Der Neue Golf” — “The New Golf” — fades into view, the jumble of letters can be read as a racial slur for a brief moment. And the cafe’s name is Petit Colon, which in French literally means the “Little Colonist.” Volkswagen told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the video had been pulled and that “we can understand the outrage and anger.”
