Raphael Stevens

Some airlines are taking longer routes to avoid the conflict, adding to fuel costs.
Other carriers are canceling flights to Russia.

One of the five Ukrainian Boeign 737-800 aircraft that landed yesterday at Castellon airport in the face of the political situation in Ukraine and Russia, on 15 February, 2022 in Castellon, Valencian Community, Spain.
Carme Ripolles | Europa Press | Getty Images

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine this week is ripping through the air travel industry, prompting no-fly zones and other restrictions.
Ukraine closed its airspace to civilian flights moments before Russia invaded early Thursday, choking off an exit point.

Lufthansa said Saturday that it will suspend flights to Russia for the next seven days and not use Russian airspace “due to the current and emerging regulatory situation.”
“Flights that are in Russian airspace will leave it shortly,” the company said in a statement. “Lufthansa Group continues to monitor the situation closely and is in close exchange with national and international authorities.”
Discount carrier Wizz Air said Friday that it was trying to evacuate crews stranded in Ukraine.
“We are still working hard to get them out at the earliest opportunity,” spokeswoman Christie Rawlings said in an emailed statement. “We are in regular contact with all of the crew and can confirm that many of them have been able to get out of the country via ground transport. The majority of our employees based there are Ukrainian nationals.”
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines previously halted Ukraine flights. KLM told CNBC on Friday that it was also cutting some of its flights to Russia so crews wouldn’t have to overnight there.

No-fly zones for aircraft were extended to Moldova and parts of eastern Russia. Many airlines have avoided eastern Russia since Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down by a Russian missile there in 2014.

FlightRadar24 website, an online flight tracker shows no aircrafts flying over Ukraine after the Russian attack.
Igor Golovniov | Lightrocket | Getty Images

The backlash to Russia’s invasion included British officials banning Russian carrier Aeroflot from landing there, resulting in retaliation from Russia that prohibits British carriers from using its airspace.
Some airlines were rerouting planes around the potential conflict zone in the days before the invasion.
“Any diversions that aircraft have to make around the no-fly zone is going to add to fuel costs,” said Bruce Chan, a logistics analyst at Stifel.
Higher costs would come at a time when airlines are already grappling with a surge in fuel prices.
United Parcel Service started flying a more southerly route around Ukraine last week.
“While this alternate routing adds additional time to the flight, we feel this is a viable alternative to continue to provide safe and efficient operations,” the airline said in a message to pilots on Feb. 21. “We will continue to monitor the situation and provide additional updates to you when we receive them.”
Some international carriers had inquired about fuel and ground support availability at Anchorage Airport in Alaska, a major cargo airport, a spokesman told CNBC. The questions are a sign that airlines are developing contingency plans should more of Russian airspace be closed to them.
Delta Air Lines, for its part, on Friday said it suspended its codeshare agreement with Aeroflot, which allowed the carriers to book seats on one another’s flights.

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From the glamor of celebrities strolling down the red carpet to the memorable speeches to the surprising wins, award shows have attracted massive attention throughout the decades.
That storyline proved true for the Oscars and Emmys through much of the late 1980s and 1990s. But that entertainment award-show zeitgeist isn’t what it used to be.

The Oscars saw an 81.2% drop from peak viewership in 1998 to 2021, according to Nielsen. As for the Emmys, they saw an 80.6% drop from its 1986 high to 2021.
On top of a steady decline in ratings, the celeb-filled events have also been hit with controversies and protests that further jeopardize their futures as must-watch events.
What’s more, their viewership trends are much older than the 18- to 49-year-old demographic that advertisers covet.
Nevertheless, the Oscars and Emmys still play a vital part in the film and television industry. A single nomination can bolster a film’s box office numbers, a TV show’s ratings, or generate a higher asking price for the nominee’s next project.
Collectively, studios have spent an estimated $100 million each year on so-called “For Your Consideration” campaigns to land nominations for their movies or shows, according to WalletHub.
So why is it that these award shows are no longer the must-watch events they used to be? Watch the video above to learn more about the rise and fall of the Oscars and Emmys.

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WarnerMedia property HBO said its new show “Game Theory” with Bomani Jones would start March 13, featuring six episodes that each run 30 minutes.
Jones spoke to CNBC about the show’s format, why it didn’t launch during Black History Month, and recapped his time hosting other sports shows on ESPN, and why the network’s “High Noon” show failed.
“I have an actual management role on this show, and that’s something that I hadn’t really had,” Jones said.

Bomani Jones onstage during “Colin In Black And White”, Netflix, And Dreamville Present Path To Power Summit at Clark Atlanta University on November 04, 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia.
Paras Griffin | Getty Images

Bomani Jones doesn’t want to be your economics teacher. Instead, the well-known sports personality wants to make compelling arguments around the intersection of sports and money. And now he has the backing of HBO to do it.
The WarnerMedia property announced on Tuesday that Jones’ sports show “Game Theory” will debut on March 13. The late-night program will see six 30-minute episodes in the first season, which will run through April 17.

And Jones has complete control over his project, unlike his days as an ESPN host.
Jones, 41, plans to take deep dives into weekly sports topics and integrate his thoughts through an economics lens. For example, he used the National Football League’s Rooney Rule to explain.
“We’re talking about what goes on within the Rooney Rule,” said Jones. “If we were in-season right now, we would certainly have something that’s about the labor market for coaches. The economics is going to inform that, and it will be a part of the discussion.”
But Jones warned “Game Theory” is “not an economics class. We’re not trying to teach,” he added. “At points, we will inform, but we’ll always try to invigorate and entertain.”
Jones said he’ll discuss sports topics out of the weekly headlines. One of which could be his thoughts on why the NFL should abolish its annual draft.

“All the reasons for me as to why the NFL Draft should be abolished, those are economics issues,” he said. “But if I tell you, ‘I want to abolish the NFL Draft,’ you’re just going to want to hear the argument. And once I start talking, you’re not just going to stop because it sounds like I’m discussing the economics of things. No, it’s a compelling take.”
He added Game Theory’s segments “won’t be as deep or as long as a John Oliver deep dives, but they will be a similar format.”
The late-night sports format has worked well for HBO. The media company has been producing the Emmy award-winning show “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” since 1995. HBO also lured long-time sportscaster Bob Costas for a late-night sports show in 2001 when he hosted “On the Record with Bob Costas.” The show lasted until 2004, but the network rebooted the program in 2021, calling it “Back on the Record with Bob Costas.”
Now HBO is shifting its power and media resources to Jones. It’s unclear how much the network is investing in “Game Theory” and what they’re paying Jones, as HBO doesn’t comment on financial matters. But to paint a picture, the network reportedly paid Gumbel more than $1 million annually to host Real Sports back in 2006.
Jones tapped his long-time friend James Davis as one of the new show’s executive producers. Davis created “Hood Adjacent” on Paramount-owned Comedy Central. Jones said Davis will help make the show more compelling.
Asked why he didn’t launch “Game Theory” during Black History Month in February, Jones joked: “I don’t work in that department, my brother. And I haven’t given that any thought, to be honest. We’re starting on (NCAA) Selection Sunday, which I think for the format of the show, is where the show should be started.”
Jones spoke to CNBC last week to further explain “Game Theory” and why the show will work.
Jabari Young, CNBC: “Game Theory” – where did the name come from?
Bomani Jones: Well, we were bouncing around names for what to do on this. With my background with the economic stuff, it was almost too easy. It lands at the wings of economic theory. Another thing is, for me in school, game theory is always something that I found to be interesting because it forms a lot of the thought processes that I have about [sports and culture]. It’s just looking at things from the standpoint of the incentives of the players and looking at how, in theory, things will play out. Very often, it helps you figure out which way things are going to go.
Take my back through your journey. When I first discovered your work, you were doing long-form blog posts and reinvigorated my love for Ric Flair because you had respect for his wrestling character and showmanship. And then, you started appearing on ESPN shows and I thought your points were very provoking. Did you ever think it would get to a point where you would host a show on HBO? Was this always in the cards?
I learned early enough in the game that I didn’t get to decide what was in the cards. I always thought it was something I could do or at the very least, if you were to say a show like this is popping up, I would absolutely think I was a person, if not the right person, to do a show like this. I’ve been talking about doing a show like this for HBO for about 15 years. If you asked what the goal or dream would be, I would’ve told you that. Now, did I think that it would happen – probably not because a lot of things have to break for you to be in a position for you to think this is something that would happen. A lot of that stuff is outside of your hands as a talent. It has to do with the politics of the network, the politics of the industry, or just the trends and directions that people are going in, on top of what you’ve done and who has seen you in the course of time. A lot of that is beyond your control. If you were to walk this up to me in 2007 and asked me, “We’ve got this show. Do you think you can [host] it?” I would’ve said yes.
Did you learn anything with your experiences hosting ESPN’s “Highly Questionable” and “High Noon”? Did the experiences prepare you more for this opportunity?
They definitely prepared me. One thing about working with Dan Le Batard and that show (“Highly Questionable”) in particular is: I got to sit with a master interviewer. Someone who is excellent at talking to people and getting them to say interesting things and making them comfortable to talk about themselves in front of you. If nothing else I got out of my time doing that show, which will always make it valuable, is I learned that from Dan. With “High Noon,” I probably learned things in a somewhat different way. I think High Noon, as much as anything else, helped me learn what kinds of things I probably needed to be doing at this point of my career. If I was going to do a TV show, I probably needed to be doing something that was outside of the paradigms of the things I had already been doing. And I probably thought that I was beyond the point of my career at ESPN where I was going to be told, “The show you’re doing is not working, and you’re not going to do it.” You take some assessment, and you learn some things about what made you and what didn’t work. It reaffirmed something for me that I’ve always felt. It’s good to know that it still stuck with me – that it didn’t go the way I wanted it to – but it didn’t affect my confidence in myself about what else I was capable of doing.
And what is the biggest thing you learned that you will take into “Game Theory”?
I think the biggest thing I learned and that I’m taking into this is: The things that I do that are the best are the things that lean into me and my personality the most. I don’t think “High Noon” was a good reflection of my personality. That had a lot to do with me, just to be clear. But I don’t think the show and its design – it was not designed to lean in on who I was personally. This show is absolutely 100% leaning in on me. Everything that is going to happen on the show in some form or fashion will be a reflection of me. The best that you can do with me is take who I am and lean into it. The podcast that I do for ESPN, especially the last two years, has been successful, and a big part of the growth is we started leaning in more into me. 
An example is, we do a lot of celebrity interviews. Well, it turns out people enjoy listening to me talk to my friends more than they would some famous person. And so, we leaned in on me just hanging out with my friends. We leaned in on the topics and the things outside of sports that reflect my personality. And that’s the stuff that works best.

US journalist Bryant Gumbel attends HBO’s “Big Little Lies” Season 2 premiere at Jazz at Lincoln Center on May 29, 2019 in New York City.
Angela Weiss | AFP | Getty Images

Take me into the business of Bomani Jones. You’re at a point where you’re not just a journalist on ESPN anymore. You’re a recognizable figure. 
The business isn’t different than what it’s been before. I suppose I have a different client that I’m doing some work with than I had prior to this. What’s different? I have an actual management role on this show, and that’s something that I hadn’t really had. You have it with a radio show or a podcast, but you’re just the one who is talking and telling somebody to book you this or whatever. It doesn’t require a real level of energy. Not in the way this is. I’m on the calls interviewing news producers. I’m interviewing graphics producers. We’re interviewing all these people for jobs that I had never really given any consideration to because at ESPN, you show up, and all those things are already filled. I’ve learned how a television show is built. I’ve learned what kind of budget you get to do a show and how to allocate the thing to ensure that you can do all the things you want to. Being involved in shooting promos and writing promos to make sure that they reflect me in the show in the way I want to be reflected and how I want the show to be reflected. I’ve got a lot of people around me, behind me, and in some cases in front of me to give me information and inform me of what those decisions ultimately are and what they will be. But right now, for me, this is a creative endeavor and probably the most exciting part of it.
Describe the business model of “Game Theory.” 
I don’t know what the business model of the show is, to be honest. I know they’re going to write me some checks, and I’m going to show up and do the stuff (laughs). We’ve got a number that’s allocated. We can’t spend more than that to do all the things we want to do. The model itself, for me, is a black box. I haven’t gotten around to asking anybody how they do that because the lights are on.
There are various ways to distribute a show with you in this format. You could’ve picked YouTube or another media company that needs the content to build streaming services. Why HBO?
Two things. One, this company called me – that helps a great deal. They came and presented this to me. Even if I had this myself and talked about who to present it to, HBO would be the first people. This is the most prestigious network in television. They’ve got the people who know how to make things work. They got the people who do a good job of letting you do what you want to do and try to create something that people will love rather than trying to create something that many people may think is good enough. The other thing about doing this with HBO: If this was some kind of half-ass project, it would not wind up on HBO. The level of quality control at this place is high enough to where you feel fairly affirmed just by the fact this gets to see the light of day. You can’t necessarily be sure of that with everybody you’re going to wind up working with. If you ask 100 people who worked in television and said you could have a show, name the network. I think nine out of 10 would say HBO. When you tell people, “I have a show, and it’s on HBO.” The look on their face changes completely. The look on my face would change.
“Game Theory” will center around the economics of sports. What about this topic, that when you talk about it, will keep people tuned in?
Well, I do it all the time. That’s the thing – it’s not like this is something that will be new that I’ve never done while operating in this space. That is something that I always do. But, again, for me, economics is a thought process as much as anything else. It’s about the way that you approach and solve problems. And from there, you can extend it and use it to talk about a bunch of different things. There are elements in money that come into sports that you might not specifically know as an economics discussion, but we’re going to have it. The mistake that people make when they try to do that stuff is not that they try to take on those topics, but they try to take on those topics and tell people they’re about to do something extra smart. That’s not what people want. People want something that they find interesting, compelling, and entertaining. Smart is not a trait that people are looking for as a standalone when it comes to this. So, when we talk about those things, they just need to be digestible and in plain English that people can understand. And it has to be presented in a way where they understand why this is going to be compelling.
We’re in an age where media companies are competing for people’s attention. So, why should people watch “Game Theory,” and why will it be successful?
Because it’s going to be good. I don’t think that on something like that, that you can give some long pitch and people will say, “Oh yeah, that’s going to be the thing.” What we have to do is make a good television show. What I think this show will be is compelling, if nothing else. Sometimes it’s going to be compelling just because of my take, and I’m saying something that you may have not heard before. Sometimes it’s going to be compelling because the stuff is just funny. Sometimes it will be compelling because the stuff looks good. We’ve got a combination of people, a collection of talent working on the show, where I look at everybody on this show, almost, and I feel everybody working on the show, except for me, is overqualified for their position. 
If you’re looking for somebody to speak sincerely about what’s going on, and whose opinion you can trust, and if nothing else means what they say, and going beyond to figure out how they feel to illustrate this stuff, then I think this show is going to work.
Will you need to scale back on ESPN, so people don’t have a Bomani Jones overload?
If I’m going to be honest, if you’ve been peeping game over the last year, the scale back has been in effect, independent of anything to do with HBO. I’ve scaled back on social media stuff just because I don’t feel like it anymore. So you can get away from me if you want to — it’s not that hard.
You’re an advent music lover. If you had to pick the perfect song or soundtrack to describe this moment in your career, what would it be?
If there was one song, and it’s unfortunate that Kanye (West) has decided to act up, but this is the “We Major” moment. This is horns blurring, chill “out, thinking we local, c’mon, homie, we major.” This is major. This is big to be in a position to do something like this. There is nothing you can tell me about this show being here that could ever hurt my feelings or poke a hole in what it is. I am hosting a late-night show on HBO.

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Major League Baseball representatives and players union officials are set to negotiate through the weekend as the lockout persists.
Owners set a Monday deadline for a deal. Otherwise, they plan on delaying Opening Day, which is currently set for March 31.
Regular-season games could be canceled, players wouldn’t be paid for the full 162-game season, and it could all add up to a disastrous development for MLB’s business.

An official MLB baseball sits on top of an MLB game-used base with a lock and chain around it to represent the lockout between Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) on January 28, 2022 in Lincroft, New Jersey.
Rich Graessle | Icon Sportswire | Getty Images

Major League Baseball and the players union are approaching the ninth inning of their labor standoff. And extra innings in this case would mean less baseball, not more.
Owners set a Monday deadline for a deal, otherwise they would move to delay Opening Day, which is currently set for March 31. Talks, which are being held at the St. Louis Cardinals’ spring training complex in Jupiter, Fla., are expected to continue through the weekend.

The two parties remain at odds over ways to restart the $10 billion business. MLB owners, who initiated the lockout Dec. 2, want only minimum changes to the current collective bargaining agreement. The players have other ideas on ways to earn more money.
Regular-season games could be canceled, players wouldn’t be paid for the full 162-game season, and it could all add up to a disastrous development for MLB’s business.

Major League Baseball Players Association executive director Tony Clark, left foreground, and chief negotiator Bruce Meyer, second from left, arrive at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, Fla., Monday, Feb. 21, 2022.
Ron Blum | AP

‘Lack of relationships’

“Very publicly, at least on the PA side, the lines were drawn early,” said former MLB executive Marty Conway, referring to the MLB Players Association.
Now a sports business professor at Georgetown University, Conway served as an executive under former MLB Commissioner Pete Ueberroth. Conway blamed the tension in these labor talks on a “lack of relationships” among the MLB and the players union.
“They (players) felt the last two labor agreements – so you’re talking about 10 years – there wasn’t an equality or an equity part of it,” said Conway. “That told me that the new folks coming in (executive director Tony Clark and the new chief negotiator Bruce Meyer) are there for a reason – to make changes.”

The jabs started early between MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred and Clark. The two couldn’t see eye-to-eye on ways to start MLB’s 2020 season as the world grappled with Covid. That resulted in a 60-game campaign. MLB saved a big piece of its national TV money after completing the postseason and World Series. But players missed out on full salaries during the 2020 season.
In 2018, MLBPA filed a grievance and accused MLB teams including Miami, Oakland, and Pittsburgh of not spending the shared revenue on players, which is against the rules. Add in the frustration of declining salaries, and how executives now run clubs;
Last November, Meyer, the players’ chief negotiator, sent a strong message.
“Players feel like the system has gotten out of whack and really gone too far in favoring the owners,” Meyer told The Atlantic. “The system isn’t operating really the way it was traditionally intended to operate. And that’s in part because of the groupthink that we see in front offices and analytics.”
The resulting talks have been contentious. Spring training games have already been canceled through March 8. The Feb. 18 bargaining sessions lasted only 15 minutes. And the media leaks around economic proposals persists.
The union wants changes to MLB’s arbitration system to get players paid sooner. Currently it takes up to six years before some players are completely free of club control — a rule that MLB owners want to retain.
A recent collective bargaining agreement had MLB and the union more than $130,000 apart on minimum player salary. The previous CBA set MLB’s minimum salary at $570,500. The players union seeks to push that number to a flat $775,000 minimum. MLB proposed $600,000, then $615,000. This week, it increased it to $640,000.
In exchange for more money, a revamped draft lottery system to address tanking, and a universal designated hitter for both the National and American leagues, which would result in more jobs, MLB owners want more to increase the teams playing in the postseason to 14 teams from 10.
Conway called these issues “big-ticket areas.” Revenue sharing among teams and service time is “how the game functions today,” he said.
“I understand what the players are seeking here, but they’re pretty substantial changes,” Conway said. “I don’t know if they are prepared to not get all of that this time.”
Conway doesn’t think owners are bluffing with their Monday deadline.
“I don’t think they are. They took it down to 60 games two years ago,” he said. “So, in that regard, I think they have a real good understanding of where their profit and loss sits.”

Signs are posted outside Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, Fla., Monday, Feb. 21, 2022. Baseball labor negotiations moved to the spring training ballpark from New York as players and owners join the talks, which enter a more intensive phase with perhaps a week left to salvage opening day on March 31.
Ron Blum | AP

A disaster for other parties, too

Missed games would also harm media partners. Deals with ESPN, Turner, and Fox are scheduled to start for the upcoming 2022 season and will pay MLB roughly $1.8 billion annually over this decade.
ESPN has the most significant amount of regular-season inventory on the national networks because of its Sunday Night Baseball package. And Turner Sports is also scheduled to debut a weekday game. The thing is, most of the national TV money comes from postseason and World Series games.
Regional sports networks will suffer the most. If MLB games are delayed, already weakened RSNs worry about owing distributors and providing make-good inventory to advertisers. One network executive told CNBC marketers are ready to put money into local MLB games but waiting for a resolution to labor talks to get an idea of total inventory.
It’s unclear how many games MLB must provide RSNs to meet contractual obligations as each market is different. But RSNs are important because they give MLB the majority of its viewership during the season.
Also, local fees are vital for MLB clubs, including top market teams like the New York Yankees, as clubs have ownership stakes in RSNs. The Yankees repurchased its local RSN from Disney in August 2019 and Yankees paid about $3.4 billion to regain the YES Network, and the team added Amazon as an investor.
The way this goes: MLB teams would return money to RSNs, who would owe distributors. And if no games are played, consumers could seek refunds from distributors. We saw this play out during the pandemic.
MLB will surely suffer on the attendance front, too, as clubs will miss out on gate and concession revenue. MLB drew a total of 45.3 million fans last season, partly due to restrictions around the pandemic. Still, it’s down from 68.5 million in 2019. And it’s a steeper decline compared to MLB’s record-high 79.5 million fans in the 2007 season.
For an example to how important attendance still is to MLB, clubs suffered massive layoffs due to lack of gate receipts during the pandemic. And Tom Ricketts, chairman and co-owner of the Chicago Cubs, projected a $4 billion hit to MLB’s roughly $10 billion revenue with no fans.
“I see missing games as a disastrous outcome for this industry,” Manfred told reporters on Feb. 10. “We’re committed to making an agreement in an effort to avoid that.”

Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred answers questions during an MLB owner’s meeting at the Waldorf Astoria on February 10, 2022 in Orlando, Florida.
Julio Aguilar | Getty Images

Will MLB bounce back?

In that same press conference, Manfred said MLB is “doing everything we can to get a deal done for our fans.” He also noted that he’s “the only person who has made a labor agreement without a dispute – and I did four of them.”
“Somehow, during those four negotiations,” Manfred added, “players and union representatives figured out a way to trust me enough to make a deal. I’m the same person today as I was in 1998 when I took that labor job.”
Whether Manfred can once again be the closer in the bottom of the ninth, avoid losing games, and deliver a deal on his commissioner’s watch remains to be seen, though. And he’ll will also need to fix MLB on the field to make the game more watchable and exciting.
MLB wants things such as a pitcher’s clock to speed up games. Manfred also tried new concepts during the pandemic like starting extra innings with a player on second base. And the league already installed a three-batter rule, designed to decrease game delaying pitcher changes.
That’s what fans care about.
“It is not money,” longtime baseball writer Thomas Verducci wrote in Sports Illustrated. “It is the product. Baseball’s place in popular culture and the entertainment landscape is threatened by how it is played, not its economic structure.”
And the longer the league and players wait to fix MLB, it risks losing more paying consumers who are grappling with economic pressures such as high inflation.
“Baseball has been resilient in a lot of ways,” Conwy added. “The question is, how high does the ball bounce back this time? A lot of people will move on. And some people will say, ‘I’m paying $4 a gallon for gas. I can’t afford baseball.'”

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For Airbus, as well as its competitor Boeing, Russia’s attack on Ukraine raises the question of what impact sanctions may have on their plans to ramp up aircraft production this year.
So far, the sanctions have not targeted Russia’s ability to export aluminum, steel or titanium, crucial to the production of airplanes.

As if the airline industry needs yet another hurdle to overcome after two of the worst years it has ever experienced, carriers are now wondering what will happen to travel in Europe given the war in Ukraine.
The CEO of Airbus, which is based in Toulouse, France, believes an expected surge in travel this summer is still likely.

“I don’t think it impacts the internal European markets,” Guillaume Faury told CNBC while visiting New York for meetings late last week. Faury admits travel in Eastern Europe near Ukraine may come under pressure, but overall he is optimistic air travel will surge in the months ahead.
“I would tend to say yes, it’s very likely that the majority of the travel in the world will recover as we’re expecting by the end of the pandemic.”
Faury’s optimism is matched by almost every airline CEO who has pointed to 2022 as a big year in rebuilding travel lost during the pandemic.
At one point transatlantic flights were down more than 75%. By early this year it had improved but was still down 36%, according to Jefferies.
In a research note outlining the risk of transatlantic travel falling due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, analyst Sheila Kahyaoglu wrote, “The vast majority of European air traffic is driven by Western Europe, which should remain relatively unaffected unless Russia conducts a further offensive into NATO territory.”

For Airbus, as well as its competitor Boeing, Russia’s attack on Ukraine raises the question of what impact sanctions may have on their plans to ramp up aircraft production this year.
So far, the sanctions have not targeted Russia’s ability to export aluminum, steel or titanium, which are crucial to the production of airplanes.
Separately, Faury says Airbus has little exposure to supply chain pressure that may develop in Eastern Europe. “The security of supply is guaranteed independently from sourcing that could be challenged from Russia,” he said.
Guaranteeing the supply chain will be critical for Airbus as it ramps up production this year both in Europe and in the U.S. thanks to strong demand for the A320 and A220, both built at the company’s plant in Mobile, Alabama.
Faury expects production rates for both planes to grow by at least 20% annually over the next three years. “There are not many parts of the aviation ecosystem which are ramping up at 20% a year,” said Faury. “That’s what we have in Alabama.”
Longer term, Airbus is investing heavily to develop of hydrogen-powered aircraft that would have dramatically lower emissions.
Last week it announced plans to work with CFM International, the joint venture owned by GE and Safran, on hydrogen-powered planes. “We think we can enter into service the first hydrogen by 2035,” said Faury.

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Etsy and Block are Covid-era winners that will continue to thrive even after the pandemic, CNBC’s Jim Cramer predicted on Friday.
“You need to understand just how special these stocks are,” the “Mad Money” host said.
“While they can have some huge swings, once the volatility’s over, I bet they won’t easily give back their gains,” he said.

Etsy and Block are Covid-era winners that will continue to thrive even after the pandemic, CNBC’s Jim Cramer contended on Friday.
“You need to understand just how special these stocks are,” the “Mad Money” host said. “While they can have some huge swings, once the volatility’s over, I bet they won’t easily give back their gains.”

Etsy shares soared 16% Friday after the e-commerce marketplace provider reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue Thursday. Even with Friday’s big move, the stock is down nearly 50% over the past three months. The steep decline came as Wall Street rotated into more defensive parts of the stock market and as investors questioned the staying power of pandemic success stories.
Shares of Block, formerly known as Square, skyrocketed 26% Friday after beating Wall Street expectations on earnings and revenue for its fourth quarter. The company also released a rosy outlook for the current quarter and full-year based on the growth of its mobile payment service, Cash App.
Like Etsy’s, Block’s stock has been crushed in recent months. It’s still down more than 40% over the past three months, despite Friday’s gains.
Cramer, who previously warned that many companies aren’t ready for a post-pandemic world, said that the payment giant is “firing on all cylinders” and praised Cash App as “brilliant.” 
As for Etsy, Cramer said the e-commerce shopping platform’s growth internationally, evidenced by its recent increase in transaction fees from 5% to 6.5%, signals a path to success even after the pandemic. “Because of Etsy’s unique nature as the No. 1 marketplace for handcrafted goods, I doubt there will be any resistance,” he added.

Cramer also named DoorDash and Airbnb as other Covid-era winners that he believes will continue to succeed post-pandemic.
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Barrick Gold’s plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from its operations will deliver financial benefits to the company, CEO Mark Bristow told CNBC’s Jim Cramer.
“We’re not just investing to reduce our gas emissions just to be compliant. It’s good for business,” Bristow said on “Mad Money.”

Barrick Gold CEO Mark Bristow told CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Friday that the company’s plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will deliver financial benefits internally, in addition to the positive environmental impacts.
By 2030, the gold miner plans to reduce emissions by 30% compared with its 2018 baseline, according to Barrick’s most recent sustainability report. It has a net-zero goal by 2050.

“We’re not just investing to reduce our gas emissions just to be compliant. It’s good for business,” Bristow said in an interview on “Mad Money.”
Specifically, Bristow said that as part of Barrick’s roadmap to achieve its 30% reduction goal, the company is assuming a 15% internal rate of return. Known as IRR, it’s a financial metric companies can use to determine whether a project is a worthwhile investment.
By decreasing the use of fossil fuels in its operations, Barrick will be less exposed to the fluctuating prices of natural gas and oil, both of which have surged over the past 12 months.
“It’s giving us a return,” Bristow said of emissions-cutting initiatives. “It’ll drop the cost, make us less dependent on the hydrocarbons.”
For example, when Cramer asked Bristow whether investors should worry about whether elevated natural gas and oil prices would knock down the company’s total return, the CEO said: “Yes. In the short term, of course, there’s impact.”

At the same time, Bristow reminded investors that higher commodity prices also benefits the company in other ways. “Remember, the gold price is going up for the same reason,” he said.
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