Safety last: Risky investments soared at start of 2021
FILE - In this Tuesday, March 9, 2021, file photo, a JetBlue flight arrives at Salt Lake City International Airport, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)NEW YORK โ Who needs safety when the world's about to get back to normal? Worries are also rising that one the worst enemies of bond investors, inflation, may be set to return. The drops in bond prices sent the average intermediate-term core bond fund down 2.9% in the first quarter, as of Tuesday, according to Morningstar. Higher interest rates are adding more pressure on high-growth stocks, which were often lagging the market during the first quarter.
US jobless claims fall to 712,000 as pace of layoffs eases
A JetBlue flight arrives at Salt Lake City International Airport, Tuesday, March 9, 2021, in Salt Lake City. The Labor Department said Thursday that applications for unemployment aid dropped by 42,000 from 754,000 the week before. Though the job market has been slowly strengthening, many businesses remain under pressure, and 9.6 million jobs remain lost to the pandemic that flattened the economy 12 months ago. AdAll told, 4.1 million Americans are receiving traditional state unemployment benefits. Even where restrictions didn't exist, many Americans for months chose to stay home to avoid the risk of infection.
US airlines adding jobs, extending rebound from October low
The Transportation Department said Tuesday, March 9, 2021, that the airline industry employed 713,949 people full-time or part-time in January. Cargo airlines have added jobs while passenger airlines have shed workers, mostly through incentives for workers to quit or take early retirement. The Transportation Department said Tuesday that 713,949 people held full-time or part-time jobs at airlines in mid-January, up from 694,638 in December and the low of 673,278 in October. American Airlines eliminated 8,700 jobs, or 8% of its workers, and Southwest shed more than 4,600 jobs, or 7.5%. FedEx's express-delivery division grew by about 24,000 jobs, or 9.8%, United Parcel Service added 183 jobs, or 2.9%, in its air-shipment business, and smaller cargo carriers such as Atlas Air also added jobs, according to the Transportation Department.
JetBlue is the latest airline to retreat from blocking seats
The days of airlines blocking seats to make passengers feel safer about flying during the pandemic are coming closer to an end. A spokesman for the carrier said Thursday that JetBlue will reduce the number of seats it blocks after Dec. 1 to accommodate families traveling together over the holidays. Southwest Airlines said last week that it will stop limiting the number of seats it fills after Dec. 1. Some airlines promised to block middle seats to create more distance between passengers. Southwest CEO Gary Kelly made a similar reference to โscientific evidenceโ that cabins are safe, but he also cited a strong financial incentive to stop blocking middle seats.
Facial recognition takes over airports
Other examples include iris recognition, fingerprints and facial recognition. Facial recognition in the USOn the other side of the Atlantic the US government has been using facial recognition for the past 20 years or so, although it's only ramped up biometric boarding recently. Protests and concernsSome civilian groups have also expressed uneasiness about airport facial recognition. In China, facial recognition is widespread -- including, but not limited to airports. In Dubai, Terminal 3's "Smart Tunnel" is designed to funnel passengers through passport control via facial recognition.
Water quality on planes has been studied
Mario Tama/Getty Images(CNN) - You've probably never given much thought to the quality of the water on an airplane. A recent study ranks the water served on major and regional US airlines. They tied for last among major airlines in the study, which came out at the end of August. Airlines are required to provide safe drinking water for passengers and crew because of the Aircraft Drinking Water Rule, a federal government policy which dates back to 2011. The criteria for the study included fleet size, the number of Aircraft Drinking Water Rule violations, results of water sample reports and how cooperative the airlines were in providing answers to questions about water quality.