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Delta is adding 11 new Austin flights in April, weeks after American said it plans to cut 21 routes from the city.
Austin’s passenger growth has outpaced the broader U.S. since 2019.
Tech companies such as Apple, Tesla and IBM have invested in the area.

Angel Di Bilio | iStock Editorial | Getty Images

Delta Air Lines is adding more flights next year at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, in a bid to gain market share in one of the country’s fastest-growing airports.
The carrier plans to add 11 nonstop flights from Austin in April, giving it almost 50 peak-day flights, the airline said Friday.

Flight additions include Midland-Odessa and McAllen in Texas, as well as Raleigh-Durham in North Carolina, Nashville and Cincinnati. The announcement comes weeks after rival American Airlines said it planned to cut 21 Austin routes.
It will also route connecting passengers through the hub, a shift for the Atlanta-based carrier.
“This is the first time we’ll be using Austin as a connecting point to access our network with the addition of McAllen and Midland,” Eric Beck, managing director of network planning, said in an interview. “For us here at Delta, Texas has historically been a white space for opportunity on our network.”
Austin’s population has grown rapidly in recent years and the city has drawn investment from big companies such as Apple, Tesla and IBM.
Beck said no single company drove the decision to expand in Austin. But “over time as we talk to our corporate accounts and look to where they’re traveling that we don’t have service,” McAllen and Midland, a base for the oil-rich Permian Basin, topped the list, he added.

Beck said both cities have strong business communities and tourism attractions.
Austin’s airport served more than 7.1 million passengers last year, up 11% from 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium. Passenger counts fell 5% in the U.S. overall during that period.
Delta had a market share of close to 14% in Austin as of September, behind Southwest Airlines’ 40% share and American’s 22%, according to airport data.

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Olive Garden owner Darden beat earnings per share estimates for its fiscal second quarter.
Revenue was up 9.7%, driven by the addition of Ruth’s Chris Steak House locations and same-store sales growth at other key chains, the company said.
Darden also raised its outlook for the full fiscal year.

An Olive Garden restaurant in Fremont, California, US, on Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023. Darden Restaurants Inc. is scheduled to release earnings figures on September 21.
Bloomberg | Getty Images

Darden Restaurants on Friday reported quarterly earnings that beat expectations and raised its annual guidance, helped by sales growth at chains like Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse.
Here’s what the company reported for its fiscal second quarter ending Nov. 26 compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG, formerly known as Refinitiv:

Earnings per share: $1.84 adjusted vs. $1.74 expected

Revenue: $2.73 billion vs. $2.74 billion expected

Sales rose 9.7% from the year-ago period, which the company said was driven by the inclusion of Ruth’s Chris Steak House locations and a same-restaurant sales increase of 2.8%
Olive Garden same-restaurant sales were up 4.1%, while LongHorn Steakhouse saw a 4.9% jump for the quarter. Fine dining lagged, as sales fell 1.7% for the quarter.
Darden shares were down more than 1% in premarket trading Friday.
Darden completed its acquisition of Ruth’s Hospitality Group, owner of chain restaurant Ruth’s Chris Steak House, in June. The company will not include same-store sales from Ruth’s Chris Steak House until Darden has owned and operated the restaurant for a 16-month period.
“We continued to profitably grow market share again this quarter as we outperformed industry same-restaurant sales and traffic,” said Darden President & CEO Rick Cardenas in a statement.
The restaurant group also updated its fiscal year 2024 outlook, forecasting adjusted earnings per share of $8.75 to $8.90, up from the company’s previous estimate of $8.55 to $8.85, excluding Ruth’s Chris transactions and integration costs. The LongHorn Steakhouse owner also projects $11.5 billion in sales for the fiscal year. More

GM plans to lay off about 1,300 workers in Michigan starting early next year due to vehicles they produce ending production.
The largest of the layoffs were expected. They include 945 workers at Orion Assembly who build Chevrolet Bolt models, which are ending production after this year.
The other 369 workers to be laid off are at GM’s Lansing Grand River Assembly/Stamping, which will no longer produce the Chevrolet Camaro.

UAW Local 5960 member Kimberly Fuhr inspects a Chevrolet Bolt EV during vehicle production on May 6, 2021, at the General Motors Orion Assembly Plant in Orion Township, Michigan.
Steve Fecht for Chevrolet

DETROIT — General Motors plans to lay off about 1,300 workers in Michigan starting early next year due to vehicles they produce ending production, the company disclosed in state documents.
The largest of the layoffs were expected. They include 945 workers at Orion Assembly who build Chevrolet Bolt models, which are ending production after this year.

The final production date is scheduled for the week of Dec. 18. However, layoffs will not occur until Jan. 1.
GM will retool Orion to build electric trucks. The plant is expected to come back online in late 2025.
The other 369 workers to be laid off are at GM’s Lansing Grand River Assembly/Stamping, which will no longer produce the Chevrolet Camaro. GM had previously announced the end of the vehicle but not how many employees would be laid off at the plant, which continues to produce Cadillac sedans.
“Lansing Grand River Assembly informed employees today that the plant will adjust staffing levels due to the end of Camaro production,” GM said in a statement. “As a result, about 350 employees will be affected beginning Jan. 2. GM anticipates having job opportunities for all impacted team members per the provisions of the UAW-GM National Agreement.”
Layoffs at Grand River will begin Jan. 2 and continue through March, according to the WARN notice documents.Don’t miss these stories from CNBC PRO: More

Warner Bros.’ “Wonka,” starring Timothée Chalamet, is expected to drum up between $35 million and $45 million during its domestic opening weekend.
Expectations are high that “Wonka” will deliver families to theaters, as the film has already generated goodwill with critics, scoring a clear “Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
However, audiences have balked at franchise-driven IP this year and have not been showing up in droves for movie musicals.

Timothee Chalamet stars as a young Willy Wonka in Warner Bros.’ “Wonka.”
Warner Bros. Discovery

A younger, sweeter Willy Wonka enters theaters this weekend. Oh, and he does a lot more singing.
Expectations are high that “Wonka” will deliver families to theaters, as the film has already generated goodwill with critics, scoring a clear “Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

The family-friendly film is expected to drum up between $35 million and $45 million during its domestic opening weekend. “Wonka’s” Thursday and Friday presales are reportedly trending ahead of other kid-focused releases this year such as Disney’s “Wish,” Universal’s “Trolls Band Together” and Warner Bros.’ “Shazam! Fury of the Gods,” according to BoxOffice.com.
With kids beginning their holiday school breaks and limited competition in the family space, “Wonka” could see consistent ticket sales over the next few weeks. Universal’s animated “Migration,” due out next week, is its only direct rival.
Warner Bros.’ “Wonka,” a prequel to the 1971 “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” which was based on a Roald Dahl novel, sees a fresh-faced Timothée Chalamet donning the famed top hat. Not yet a world-renowned chocolatier, Willy is looking to set up shop in the Galeries Gourmet, an epicenter of chocolate sales in an unnamed city. And Hugh Grant shows up as a diminutive, orange-hued Oompa Loompa.
Still, audiences have balked at a number of legacy-driven franchise style films this year. New additions to established franchises like Indiana Jones, Mission Impossible and Transformers, as well as several films from Marvel and DC, didn’t perform particularly well.

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It’s also unclear how general audiences will react to the fact that “Wonka” is a musical, even though the original film was full of songs. Trailers for the film hinted at several dance numbers and even showcased Chalamet singing “Pure Imagination,” which Wilder sang to memorable effect in the 1971 movie. But the marketing for “Wonka” did not reveal that there are around half a dozen original songs crafted for the film.

Warner Bros. didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Musicals have been hit-or-miss at the box office in recent years.
“Studios and filmmakers are often loath to place a genre label on their films for fear it may alienate some in the potential audience pool,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. “Nowhere has this been truer than with the category of musical.”
Prior to the pandemic, films like “The Greatest Showman,” the Pitch Perfect series and the two “Mamma Mia” delighted audiences .However, more recently, it’s only been animated features like “Frozen 2” and “Encanto” from Disney that have enamored audiences.
Hollywood has attempted to bring a number of Broadway musicals to the big screen since 2019, but audiences didn’t turn up. Of course, many of those titles — “In the Heights,” “West Side Story” and “Dear Evan Hansen” — arrived during Covid restrictions and catered toward older viewers who were less-inclined to enter public places at the time.
“Ultimately, like many films in this day and age, [musicals] need to strike a chord with their core audience and generate strong word of mouth because it is fair to say that musicals are very much feast-or-famine from a commercial approach,” said Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at BoxOffice.com. “But when they hit, they can hit big.”
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC. NBCUniversal is the distributor of “Migration,” “Trolls Band Together,” the “Pitch Perfect” film franchise and “Dear Evan Hansen.” NBCUniversal also owns Rotten Tomatoes. More

Trian Fund Management said it was nominating Nelson Peltz and former Walt Disney CFO Jay Rasulo to the media company’s board.
The firm reignited a contentious proxy fight with Disney last month.
Trian has criticized Disney for what it calls board missteps and poor financial management.

Nelson Peltz, founder and chief executive officer of Trian Fund Management, during the Future Investment Initiative (FII) Institute Priority Summit in Miami, Florida, on Thursday, March 30, 2023.
Marco Bello | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Trian Fund Management on Thursday announced it was nominating its CEO, Nelson Peltz, and former Walt Disney CFO Jay Rasulo to the media giant’s board, as the firm wages a contentious proxy fight with Disney.
“Unfortunately, the Board and CEO appear to have no conviction that things will get better,” the activist-investor firm said in a press release.

Trian had initially sought to nominate three or four board members, but after Rasulo accepted the invitation to be nominated, Trian decided the two would be a stronger option, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Disney fired back at the move by Trian by defending its current board.
“Disney has an experienced, diverse, and highly qualified Board that is focused on the long-term performance of the Company, strategic growth initiatives including the ongoing transformation of its businesses, the succession planning process, and increasing shareholder value,” Disney said in a statement Thursday.
Still, Disney said its governance and nominating committee will review the nominations and provide a recommendation to the board.
The announcement comes after Trian reignited its proxy battle with Disney last month. The firm announced it was seeking two board seats for Peltz and another media executive, following what it called “significant value destruction and missteps” that the board oversaw.

Disney shares are up more than 8% for the year, but they’ve far underperformed the S&P 500’s gains. The stock was up slightly Thursday.
Trian’s proxy fight comes as Disney CEO Bob Iger tries to right the ship after a broad restructuring that resulted in thousands of layoffs. The media giant, long known to be a box-office monster, has suffered a number of disappointments in recent years. In an effort to restrategize, Iger will cut back on movies and other new content to better the company’s financial standing, as it looks to cut billions of dollars in costs and make its streaming business profitable.
Disney has said the proxy fight is apparently in part due to a personal grudge held by Peltz’s ally and former Marvel boss Ike Perlmutter. Trian has oversight of shares owned by Perlmutter, who has been an outspoken critic of Disney CEO Bob Iger.
The fight launched by Trian last month came the morning after Disney appointed Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman and former Sky TV boss Jeremy Darroch to its board, in what appeared to be a move to temper Trian’s discontent. More

Southwest’s CEO said the airline is prepared for curveballs during the Christmas travel season.
The carrier had canceled nearly 17,000 flights during last year’s Christmas and New Year’s holiday period, more than rivals, in the wake of bad weather.
The airline has added de-icing and other equipment, and improved technology to avoid a repeat of last year’s meltdown.

Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan speaks as he is interviewed by CNBC outside the New York Stock Exchange on Dec. 9, 2021.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters

With the peak Christmas travel season just days away, Southwest Airlines’ CEO vowed that the carrier will not have a repeat of last year’s meltdown that stranded thousands of customers and cost the airline more than $1 billion.
“It will never happen again,” Bob Jordan said at an event Thursday at the Wings Club in New York.

Last year, Southwest canceled close to 17,000 flights over the crucial Christmas and New Year’s holiday period as it failed to recover from severe weather that gripped most of the country. Rival carriers were also affected but recovered more quickly.
Southwest struggled with staffing issues as storms left flight attendants and pilots out of position for their next flights, thousands of passenger bags piled up and planes were behind on de-icing.
The carrier has been stocking up in de-icing and other winter-weather equipment to prepare for the season throughout the year. It has also upgraded technology.
“Winter will not be perfect,” Jordan said. But he added that the airline is prepared for the season, pointing to a quick recovery after heavy snowfall in October at its key airport in Denver.Don’t miss these stories from CNBC PRO: More

The layoffs, which mostly hit commercial operations and related corporate functions, comes one day after the robotaxi subsidiary dismissed nine “key leaders.”
The moves are fallout from the company’s response to the Oct. 2 incident in which a pedestrian was dragged 20 feet by a Cruise self-driving car after being hit by another vehicle.
Since the incident, the company has suspended all trips on public roads and halted production of a new robotaxi, among other moves.

A Cruise vehicle in San Francisco on Feb. 2, 2022.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

General Motors’ Cruise on Thursday announced internally that it will lay off 900 employees, or 24% of its workforce, the company confirmed to CNBC.
The layoffs, which primarily affected commercial operations and related corporate functions, are the latest turmoil for the robotaxi startup and come one day after Cruise dismissed nine “key leaders” for the company’s response to an Oct. 2 accident in which a pedestrian was dragged 20 feet by a Cruise self-driving car after being struck by another vehicle.

The company had 3,800 employees before Thursday’s cuts, which also follow a round of contractor layoffs at Cruise last month. Affected employees will receive paychecks until Feb. 12 and at least an additional eight weeks of pay, plus severance based on tenure.
In a statement, a Cruise spokesperson said, “We shared the difficult news that we are reducing our workforce, primarily in commercial operations and related corporate functions. These changes reflect our decision to focus on more deliberate commercialization plans with safety as our north star. We are supporting impacted Cruisers with strong severance and benefits packages and are grateful to the departing employees who played important roles in building Cruise and supporting our mission.”
A Cruise representative also told CNBC that the company’s goal is now to work on a fully driverless L4 service, as well as relaunching ride-hailing in one city to start.
GM added, “GM supports the difficult employment decisions made by Cruise as it reflects their more deliberate path forward, with safety as the north star. We are confident in the team and committed to supporting Cruise as they set the company up for long-term success with a focus on trust, accountability and transparency.”
A barrage of safety concerns and incidents have plagued Cruise, majority-owned by GM, since it received approval in August for round-the-clock robotaxi service in San Francisco.

Since the October accident, Cruise’s robotaxi fleet has been grounded, pending the results of independent safety probes; its leadership has been gutted; production of a new robotaxi has been halted; hundreds of vehicles have been recalled; and local and federal government officials have launched their own investigations, among other concerns.
In October, the California Department of Motor Vehicles suspended Cruise’s deployment and testing permits for its autonomous vehicles, alongside a statement that said, “When there is an unreasonable risk to public safety, the DMV can immediately suspend or revoke permits.”
Cruise’s decision to suspend all trips on public roads last month came after a board meeting at the company’s headquarters, after which it also announced a reorganization, more oversight from GM, an independent “safety expert” that would assess the company’s safety operations and an expanded probe into Cruise’s tech and safety systems by Exponent, the engineering consulting firm Cruise hired to analyze the Oct. 2 crash. Exponent’s investigation is still ongoing, according to Cruise.
Here is the email Cruise sent to employees:

Cruisers:
We knew this day was coming, but that does not make it any less difficult—especially for those whose jobs are affected.
Today, we are making staff reductions that will affect 24% of full-time Cruisers, through no fault of their own. We are simplifying and focusing our efforts to return with an exceptional service in one city to start with and focusing on the Bolt platform for this first step before we scale. As a result, we are reducing our employee counts in operations and other areas. These impacts are largely outside of engineering, although some Tech positions are impacted also. As you might have learned, yesterday, we took action to part ways with several SLT members.
Craig and I believe this is a necessary step, and our leadership team and the board are fully aligned with how our go-forward U.S. staffing needs will map to the priorities ahead of us, and set up Cruise for the long term. We have also ended additional assignments of contingent workers who support our driverless operations, as we refined our go forward plans.
In a few moments, you will receive an email letting you know whether or not you are affected by this staffing reduction. If you are impacted, you will get details about what happens next in a subsequent email.
Please know that our first priority is to treat departing Cruisers with fairness, and I will describe more about how we are doing that below.
I also want to explain why we are making these reductions, and what this means for Cruise moving forward.
Cruise today vs Cruise moving forwardAs we’ve shared, our goal is to focus our work on a fully driverless L4 service that meets a new AV performance bar, prioritize the Bolt platform, relaunch ridehail in one city to start, and enhance our safety standards and processes before we scale. We are ceasing work on the Origin MY24 but not losing sight of our work on future programs. This is very different from our prior plans to expand into more than a dozen new cities in 2024.
As a result of our decision to slow down commercialization, we are restructuring to focus on delivering the improvements to our tech and vehicle performance that will build trust in our AVs.
Many of you will be impacted because we aren’t commercializing as quickly, and therefore don’t need support in certain cities or facilities. In other cases, we restructured teams based on the work we’re prioritizing. We didn’t take any of these decisions lightly, though I know that isn’t much of a consolation if you’re someone affected by the actions we are taking today.
How we’re helping departing employeesWe know there’s no “good” way to lay off employees, but treating people fairly on their way out was a key principle that guided our approach, and our top priority was determining how we could provide a strong severance package, while treating departing Cruisers with respect. In short, we are offering departing Cruisers pay, at minimum, through April 8, 2024 (approximately 16 weeks), plus continued subsidized health benefits, RSU vesting, the January 5 bonus, and additional immigration support for those holding work visas.Severance details include:

Severance pay: Departing employees will remain on payroll through Feb. 12 and are eligible for an additional 8 weeks of pay, with long-term employees offered an additional 2 weeks’ pay per every year at Cruise over 3 years. 
Bonus: All impacted employees will receive their 2023 bonus (eligible target payout) on Jan. 5, 2024.
Medical, Dental, Vision: we will provide Cruisers and their dependents who are currently enrolled in Cruise benefits the option to receive Cruise-subsidized medical, dental and mental health/EAP benefits through the end of May. 
Perks Wallet: We will give Cruisers two months to access the perks most important to them via our Perks Wallet. 
401(k): We will give Cruisers two months to continue contributions into their 401(k) plan, including our employer match. 
RSU vesting: All Cruisers, including those impacted and those remaining, will receive their January 15th RSU vest. In addition, we will provide liquidity for all of these January 15th shares in Q1 based on an updated 409A fair market valuation that we will conduct in the first quarter. Tax obligations for these January 15th vested shares will not be incurred until we provide you liquidity for these shares.
Career support: Departing employees will receive a year-long subscription to LinkedIn Premium, and we will create an opt-in alumni directory to connect potential employers with impacted Cruisers. Cruise Talent Acquisition will also run workshops on resume building, networking, and interview prep with departed Cruisers in the new year.
Immigration support: We are offering continued time on payroll through March 24 in lieu of a lump-sum severance payment to allow visa holders additional time to help transition and manage their immigration status. Eligibility for the Perks Wallet and 401(k) contributions and match will also continue through this time. We also have dedicated support lined up to help Cruisers based on their needs. 

Our message to other employers in the market is that each departing Cruiser is a talented, driven, and mission-focused team member who will contribute and achieve great things elsewhere. They are departing us through no fault of their own. Other companies will be privileged to have these professionals on their teams, as we were privileged to have them here during their time at Cruise.
What’s nextAs mentioned, in a few moments, you will receive an email letting you know whether or not you are affected by this staffing reduction, and if you are impacted, you will get details about what happens next. I am so sorry we have to do this by email, as I would prefer that we have a conversation with each of you. Unfortunately, given the scale of this change, this approach allows us to communicate to those who are impacted at the same time. We know you will want to say goodbye to your colleagues, so you will have access to Cruise email and Zoom for the next couple of hours (until 10am PT).
This is one of the hardest days we’ve had so far because so many talented people are leaving. I’m thankful we had the chance to work together, and I know I speak on behalf of so many Cruisers who will be reaching out to those departing to help with our professional networks and references. On behalf of the SLT, the Cruise Board and GM, I’m truly grateful to everyone who has played a role in building Cruise and who has poured so much into the promise of making our roads safer and our world better.

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Amazon will include a key technology in its coming Project Kuiper internet satellites, the company announced, following successful tests in space during its recent prototype mission.
Kuiper satellites will feature “optical inter-satellite links,” also known as OISLs or laser links, which serve as a way to connect the satellites to one another in orbit.
“With optical inter-satellite links across our satellite constellation, Project Kuiper will effectively operate as a mesh network in space,” a company executive said.

A visualization of laser links connecting Kuiper satellites in orbit around the Earth.

Amazon will include a key speed-boosting technology in its coming Project Kuiper internet satellites, the company announced Thursday.
Amazon says it tested the laser link tech successfully during its recent Protoflight mission. Traditionally, satellites are limited to sending data between an individual spacecraft and the ground. Laser links connect satellites to each other.

The Kuiper satellites’ “optical inter-satellite links,” also known as OISLs, serve as a way to transmit data through space. Laser links are a feature that Elon Musk’s SpaceX began introducing in later generations of its Starlink satellites. The links help improve both the latency and speed of these networks.
“With optical inter-satellite links across our satellite constellation, Project Kuiper will effectively operate as a mesh network in space,” Rajeev Badyal, Amazon’s Project Kuiper vice president of technology, said in a statement.

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Amazon’s pair of Kuiper prototype satellites “completed multiple successful” laser link demonstrations, the company said. During the tests, the Kuiper prototype satellites maintained links that transferred data at 100 gigabits per second (Gbps) over a distance of nearly 621 miles between the spacecraft.
“Because light travels faster in space than it does through glass, Kuiper’s orbital laser mesh network will be able to move data approximately 30% faster than if it traveled the equivalent distance via terrestrial fiber optic cables,” Amazon said.
The company plans to include laser links from the outset in production of its commercial Kuiper satellites, with the network planned to consist of 3,236 satellites in low Earth orbit. To date, Amazon has ordered 97 rocket launches to begin deploying its satellites in the first half of next year. In full, Amazon expects to invest upward of $10 billion to build Kuiper.

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