Raphael Stevens

Sir Richard Branson, less than a year after reaching space with Virgin Galactic, hopes to next trade flights with Elon Musk and fly with SpaceX.
“Hopefully I’ll be able to go up on one of his spaceships one day, and he’ll be able to go up on one of ours,” Branson told CNBC on Tuesday.
Branson noted that he and Musk are “good friends” and that his fellow billionaire bought a Virgin Galactic ticket “a long time ago.”

Billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson prepares to spray champagne after flying with a crew in Virgin Galactic’s passenger rocket plane VSS Unity to the edge of space at Spaceport America near Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, U.S., July 11, 2021.
Joe Skipper | Reuters

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado – Sir Richard Branson, less than a year after reaching space with Virgin Galactic, hopes to next trade flights with Elon Musk and fly with SpaceX.
“Hopefully, I’ll be able to go up on one of his spaceships one day, and he’ll be able to go up on one of ours,” Branson told CNBC on Tuesday.

Branson achieved his dream of reaching space in July 2021, nearly two decades after he founded Virgin Galactic. The Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday honored the first-time astronauts of Virgin Galactic’s Unity 22 flight crew – Branson, Sirisha Bandla and Colin Bennett – with wings, recognizing them for crossing the 80 kilometer (50 mile) altitude mark that the U.S. recognizes as the boundary to space.
Branson noted that he and Musk are “good friends” and that his fellow billionaire bought a Virgin Galactic ticket “a long time ago.” SpaceX began flying astronauts to orbit in 2020 and has launched 18 people to space to date.

Branson’s role in Virgin Galactic’s future

Shares of Virgin Galactic are down nearly 33% so far this year.
Virgin Galactic is in the midst of a lengthy refurbishment process of its spacecraft VSS Unity and carrier aircraft VMS Eve. The company stood down in October from completing its test flight campaign and delayed its commercial space tourism service to the fourth quarter of this year. In February, the company said the refurbishment remains on schedule and is set to be complete in the third quarter.
In the meantime, Virgin Galactic has made changes to its structure and brand under CEO Michael Colglazier, who was appointed in July 2020. Earlier this year, now-former-chair Chamath Palihapitiya stepped down from Virgin Galactic’s board of directors, and the company revealed a rebranding of its logo, replacing the iris of Branson with a purple outline of its spacecraft.

Additionally, Branson has decreased his ownership of Virgin Galactic in four bulk stock sales since the company went public, although he remains the largest single shareholder through The Virgin Group.
Branson said he is done with “the sort of heavy-lifting side of my job” for Virgin Galactic. But he also pledged that he will “always be involved” with the company.
“I had lunch with Michael [Colglazier] today, and we had a long list of things that I’m planning to do … so it doesn’t look like I’m ducking out of here,” Branson said. “I’ll certainly help where I can.”

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Porsche is upping its investment in the development of climate-neutral “e-fuels” made to replace gasoline in traditional combustion engines.
The German automaker, owned by Volkswagen, announced on Wednesday a $75 million “long-term” investment stake in Highly Innovative Fuels Global.
E-fuels could allow companies like Porsche to continue producing vehicles such as the iconic 911 sports car with a traditional engine alongside new electric models.

A Porsche 911 Carrera 4S stands in the evening light in a drive-in cinema on the circuit of the Leipzig Porsche factory.
Jan Woitas | picture alliance via Getty Images

DETROIT — Porsche is upping its investment in the development of climate-neutral “e-fuels” made to replace gasoline in traditional combustion engines.
The German automaker, owned by Volkswagen, announced on Wednesday a $75 million “long-term” investment in Highly Innovative Fuels Global, a manufacturer headquartered in the U.S. with operations in Chile. Porsche will acquire 12.5% of the Delaware-based holding company.

The move builds on an existing tie-up between the companies. In late 2020, Porsche announced a roughly $24 million investment in a pilot plant being produced by HIF in Chile. The plant is expected to begin production later this year of e-fuels, which are made from hydrogen and carbon dioxide.
“Today is an important milestone in our commitment to e-fuels,” Barbara Frenkel, head of procurement for Porsche, said during a media roundtable from Chile. “We see our participation in HIF Global as a long-term investment and the use of e-fuels is, of course, of great interest to the automotive industry … it is also effective for aviation and shipping industries.”
Porsche’s new investment is part of a larger international financing round of $260 million, according to HIF. Other investors include the Chilean company Andes Mining & Energy (AME) and American companies EIG, Baker Hughes and Gemstone Investments.
HIF said the additional capital will be used to develop industrial e-fuel facilities next year in the United States, followed by similar facilities in Chile and Australia in 2024.

Electricity-based fuels, or e-fuels, are clean, carbon-neutral fuels produced from renewable, green hydrogen and carbon dioxide taken from the atmosphere, according to HIF. They can act like gasoline, allowing owners of current and classic vehicles a more environmentally friendly way to drive.

E-fuels could allow companies like Porsche to continue producing vehicles such as the iconic 911 sports car with a traditional engine alongside new electric models, despite increasing regulations away from fossil fuels. While electric vehicles can offer outstanding performance, the driving dynamics of the vehicles are different than traditional engines.
Porsche, which is now the second largest shareholder in the company behind AME, expects to use the e-fuels from Chile first in motorsports, followed potentially by uses in new consumer vehicles.

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Aurora and Werner are testing self-driving tractor-trailer trucks on a crucial stretch of highway in Texas.
The road, between Fort Worth and El Paso, is a key part of the busy Atlanta-to-Los Angeles truck route, but human drivers find it monotonous to drive.
The trucks have human operators on board for now, ready to take over if needed.

06 January 2022, US, Las Vegas: Robotic truck company Aurora shows off a self-driving semi-truck at the CES tech show in Las Vegas. In the Corona pandemic, interest in autonomous freight transport increased. 
Andrej Sokolow | Picture Alliance | Getty Images

Self-driving startup Aurora Innovation has gone trucking in Texas.
Aurora announced Wednesday that it has begun a pilot test of self-driving tractor-trailers with logistics giant Werner Enterprises. Aurora’s self-driving system – called Aurora Driver – will be operating Werner trucks on a roughly 600-mile stretch of highway between Fort Worth and El Paso.

That particular stretch is an important segment of a heavily traveled truck route between Atlanta and Los Angeles. But according to the companies, it’s a monotonous nine-hour drive that human truck drivers would rather avoid – making it an ideal use case for the Aurora Driver system, which never gets bored.
For the time being, the Aurora-driven trucks will have human operators on board, ready to take over if needed. Aurora’s system also isn’t being asked to handle any tight urban driving situations.
Despite the constraints, the test is an important step forward for Aurora’s driverless technology at a moment when trucking firms like Werner are grappling with a nationwide shortage of qualified human truck drivers.
Werner’s CEO, Derek Leathers, was quick to say that the goal isn’t to replace the company’s human drivers entirely. Instead, as he sees it, self-driving systems like Aurora’s will be able to handle routes that Werner’s human drivers would rather avoid, while expanding the company’s capacity during busy periods.
“We look forward to building a hybrid world where drivers continue to haul freight while autonomous trucks supplement rising demand,” Leathers said.

This is Werner’s first experience with autonomous trucks, but it’s not the Aurora Driver’s first deployment in big rigs. Both FedEx and Uber Technologies’ trucking unit, Uber Freight, are running similar pilot programs with Aurora-driven heavy trucks. Aurora is also testing its Driver system with Toyota minivans in a ride-hailing fleet in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Aurora acquired Uber’s self-driving division in 2020.

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JetBlue made an offer to acquire discount airline Spirit as it looks to grow its fleet and compete with bigger carriers.
The bid confounded some Wall Street analysts: “Wait, what?”
Spirit and rival discount carrier Frontier announced plans to combine in February.

View of JetBlue planes at Terminal 5 of John F. Kennedy International Airport on May 12, 2020 in New York, NY.
Pablo Monslave | Getty Images

JetBlue on Wednesday said its $3.6 billion all-cash bid for ultra-low cost carrier Spirit Airlines would help it grow across the country and better compete against larger airlines.
The bid, which Spirit called “unsolicited,” casts doubt on the latter’s planned tie-up with Frontier Airlines. Spirit shares surged more than 22% on Tuesday after news of the offer broke, but were down 3% in premarket trading Wednesday. JetBlue was off 4% while Frontier was down 3%.

Frontier and Spirit have similar business models: low fares, sparse onboard service and fees for everything from hand baggage to seat selection.
JetBlue, on the other hand, has spent years building up its Mint business class service that includes lie-flat beds and full meals. The same day it announced its surprise bid for Spirit, JetBlue also announced start dates for its first flights from Boston to London.
But JetBlue is mostly concentrated in domestic travel. The Spirit deal, if approved by antitrust officials in the Justice Department, would give JetBlue more breadth and ability to compete with larger carriers, executives said Wednesday.
It would also allow JetBlue to quickly grow its fleet thank to a large Airbus orderbook both carriers have as well as increase its headcount, particularly pilots. JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes said on a call with analysts on Wednesday morning that he expects the pilot shortage in the U.S. to persist for several years.
JetBlue didn’t disclose how much it would cost to reconfigure Spirit’s Airbus planes to match JetBlue interiors, which have inflight entertainment like seatback screens fewer seats, but the carrier said it would be “a multi-year” capital expenditure.

The airline’s bid for Spirit confounded some analysts.
UBS called it a “headscratcher.”
“Wait, What?” asked MKM Partners.
Bank of America said while both JetBlue and Spirit have Airbus planes “we struggle to find additional benefits for JBLU.”
Raymond James downgraded JetBlue to market perform after the announcement and said product and labor would be tough to combine.
“The process is also likely to distract or possibly unwind current initiatives, most notably the Northeast alliance with American,” Raymond James Savanthi Syth wrote. “Moreover, the prospect of elevated debt, even if manageable, is likely to be an overhang on investor sentiment.”
The Biden administration has been scrutinizing mergers and other alliances.
The Biden administration sued last year to block JetBlue’s partnership with American Airlines, which allows the airlines to coordinate routes in airports in the New York City area and Boston.
Asked whether JetBlue would give up that alliance to get a deal with Spirit through regulators, JetBlue CEO Hayes said on the analyst call that the deal is “complementary” to its American Airlines’ partnership.

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The XE variant has so far been detected in 637 patients, according to the latest statistics from the U.K. Health Security Agency.
It is what’s known as a “recombinant,” meaning it contains a mix of the previously highly infectious omicron BA.1 strain, which emerged in late 2021, and the newer BA.2 variant, currently the U.K.’s dominant variant.
Such recombinants are not uncommon, however health authorities said there is currently not enough evidence to draw conclusions on its transmissibility or severity.

According to the Office for National Statistics, 4.9 million people in Britain, or 1 in 13, were infected with Covid-19 as of March 26 — a record high since its survey began in April 2020.
Bloomberg | Getty Images

LONDON — A new omicron sub-variant has been detected in the U.K. as the country faces a renewed surge in Covid-19 hospitalizations.
The XE variant, as it is known, has so far been detected in 637 patients nationwide, according to the latest statistics from the U.K. Health Security Agency, which said there is currently not enough evidence to draw conclusions on its transmissibility or severity.

XE contains a mix of the previously highly infectious omicron BA.1 strain, which emerged in late 2021, and the newer “stealth” BA.2 variant, currently the U.K.’s dominant variant.
It is what’s known as a “recombinant,” a type of variant that can occur when an individual becomes infected with two or more variants at the same time, resulting in a mixing of their genetic material within a patient’s body.

XE’s transmissibility, severity not yet conclusive

Such recombinants are not uncommon, having occurred several times during the coronavirus pandemic.
Data on the new variant’s severity and ability to evade vaccines is not yet clear, though early estimates suggest it could be more transmissible than earlier strains.
UKHSA data show XE has a growth rate of 9.8% above that of BA.2, while the World Health Organization has so far put that figure at 10%.

Health authorities have said they are continuing to monitor the situation.
“This particular recombinant, XE, has shown a variable growth rate and we cannot yet confirm whether it has a true growth advantage. So far there is not enough evidence to draw conclusions about transmissibility, severity or vaccine effectiveness,” UKHSA’s chief medical advisor professor Susan Hopkins said.
The earliest confirmed XE case in Britain has a specimen date of Jan. 19 this year, suggesting it could have been in circulation in the population for several months. It has also been detected beyond the U.K. in Thailand.

Surging cases

It comes as the U.K. faces a new surge in infections. Still, the XE variant currently accounts for less than 1% of total Covid cases that have undergone genomic sequencing there.
According to the Office for National Statistics, 4.9 million people in Britain, or 1 in 13, were infected with Covid as of March 26 — a record high since its survey began in April 2020. Hospitalizations, meanwhile, have risen more than 7% in the last week to over 16,500.
Older adults have proven particularly susceptible to the latest wave amid waning booster immunity and easing Covid restrictions.
According to Imperial College’s latest React study, an estimated 8.31% of the over-55 age group tested positive as of the end of March — nearly 20 times the average prevalence recorded since the survey started in May 2020. Cases among children and younger adults, meanwhile, appear to be plateauing.
The findings mark the 19th and final round of the study as Covid restrictions and surveillance systems are unwound in the U.K. and beyond.
The British government on Friday pushed ahead with plans to cease two virus surveys and scale down a third. Meanwhile, Israel and Denmark, two frontrunners in research and vaccines in the early days of the pandemic, have dramatically cut back testing.
The scaling back of Covid data could make it more difficult to predict surges and understand new variants.
It comes as China — itself in the midst of its latest surge which has seen Shanghai enter into an extended lockdown — also recorded a new subvariant labeled BA.1.1.
The variant does not match other Covid types sequenced in China or reported to the global variant database, and was found in a mild Covid case in Suzhou, a city near Shanghai.

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The United States hit a record low housing supply in 2022, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Builders expect housing affordability to worsen as the Federal Reserve raises interest rates.
Master-planned communities and mixed-use districts have attracted investors flush with cash seeking to profit by shoring up supply.

Americans who are short on cash to make rent may need to face an uncomfortable reality: Conditions will likely get worse before they get better.U.S. housing supply fell to the lowest levels observed in over 20 years, according to the National Association of Realtors. That’s dramatically pushing up prices for consumers, and catching the attention of leaders.”The most immediate challenge is a lack of lumber and other kinds of building materials,” says Rob Dietz, chief economist at the National Association of Home Builders. “The other challenge, and it’s one that’s going to be with us for some time, is a lack of skilled labor.”Architects say better planning could ease cost burdens while shoring up public health.”Suburban retrofitting has the potential to transform people’s lives,” said June Williamson, dean of architecture at City College of New York.The Mosaic District of Fairfax, Virginia, is among the many “retrofitted” mixed-use districts and master-planned communities that have attracted major developers to the concept.
Watch the video above to learn more about the real estate industry’s push to shore up the housing supply.

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