Somnio shared the first drawings of the apartments’ interior designs with Insider ahead of the superyacht’s launch in 2024.Apartments in Somnio Superyacht.
Luttenberg Design
The superyacht has 39 apartments which start from $10.8 million each. Some have been sold without the owners even viewing them, Somnio told Insider.Somnio Superyacht in Monaco Harbor.
Winch Design
You can’t just buy one of these apartments though — you have to wait to be invited. The owners will be kept a secret, Somnio said.Apartments in Somnio Superyacht.
Tillberg Design of Sweden
Somnio said the apartments will be spread across six decks. The smallest one starts at 182m² of total space, while the largest one will be 963m² — a third of which will be an outside terrace.Apartments inside Somnio.
Luttenberger Design
The superyacht’s biggest apartment is expected to take over nearly the whole of the top deck, Somnio said.Apartments in Somnio Superyacht.
Luttenberger Design
Apartment owners will work with three design companies for up to three months to choose the interior arrangements and decide on which materials, furniture, lighting, and artwork to have in their rooms, per Somnio.Apartment living area in Somnio Superyacht.
Winch Design
Some apartments will have a kitchen, a gym, a library, dining areas both inside and outside on the terrace. There will also be a shared wine cellar and tasting room that contains 10,000 bottles, as well as restaurants, bars, and a beach club with watersports, Somnio said.Apartments inside Somnio.
Luttenberg Design
The design companies will also help to source knickknacks such as cutlery, towels, and bedding for each apartment. Owners can also add their own belongings to the interior design.Apartment living area inside Somnio Superyacht.
Winch Design
The designers will try to choose the most environmentally friendly materials and products for the interior design, Somnio said.Apartment living area in Somnio Superyacht.
Winch Design
Somnio said the superyacht is set to travel around the world — apartment owners will visit the Mediterranean, spend a week in New York, sail to the South Pacific, and explore Antarctica on the yacht.Somnio Superyacht going under Sydney Harbor Bridge.
Winch Design
Owners can stay or go whenever they please, Somnio told Insider. “It is their home.”Apartment living area in the Somnio Superyacht.
Nearly 9% of Boeing’s US workforce has requested vaccine exemptions, sources told Reuters.
BlueBarronPhoto/Shutterstock
More than 11,000 of Boeing’s US employees have asked to be exempt from the vaccine mandate, sources told Reuters.
The company has received more vaccine exemption requests than it had expected, sources told Reuters.
Boeing delayed its deadline for staff to comply with Biden’s vaccine mandate by one month, per Reuters.
Nearly 9% of Boeing‘s US workforce has requested an exemption to the planemaker’s vaccine mandate, much more than the company had expected, Reuters first reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
More than 11,000 workers have requested the exemption on religious or medical grounds, the people told Reuters. The company had been expecting vaccine exemptions from around 2% of the workforce, Reuters cited sources as saying.
Boeing executives are desperate to find a solution that keeps staff protected from COVID-19 and complies with the Biden administration’s vaccination mandate, but also prevents many people leaving the company, the people told Reuters.
Out of 11,000 people looking for exemptions, those requesting a religious exemption hit more than 10,000, one person with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. Another person told Reuters more than 11,300 staff members have filed a religious exemption.
Around 1,000 workers have filed a medical exemption, another person familiar with the situation told Reuters.
Boeing said last month that it would require its 125,000 US workers to get vaccinated, according to an earlier story from Reuters.
Boeing says on its website that it employs more than 140,000 people worldwide.
Boeing didn’t immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment. A company spokesperson told Reuters that the firm is “committed to maintaining a safe working environment for our employees, and advancing the health and safety of our global workforce is fundamental to our values.”
Boeing pushed back its deadline for all workers to get vaccinated, or tested regularly if they receive exemptions, by one month to January 4, according to a company email seen by Reuters, and to industry sources who spoke with the newswire.
“Anyone who has not received their final dose or been approved for an accommodation, and registered their vaccination status by Jan. 4, will be issued a final warning, and will be expected to promptly come into compliance if they wish to remain employed at Boeing,” the company email said, cited by Reuters.
Employees who have exemptions from the mandate will be required to wear a face mask, socially distance, and regularly test for COVID-19, the Boeing email said, per Reuters.
A Gulfstream jet similar to the ones reportedly sold by Evergrande.
Power Sport Images/Getty Images
Evergrande sold two of its private Gulfstream jets in October, sources told The Wall Street Journal.
One jet was sold for under $40 million and the second was sold for around $15 million, per the WSJ.
The reported sales happened the same month Evergrande made two bond-interest payments.
Struggling Chinese property developer Evergrande sold two of its private jets for more than $50 million in October amid its struggles to control its huge debts, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
The two Gulfstream jets were bought by American aircraft investors, The Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter and a business aviation database.
Evergrande’s debt pile is $300 billion and the company faces a series of imminent bond payments, Insider’s Lina Batarags reported Monday. Analysts have warned that a collapse of Evergrande would harm the global economy.
Sales of the two jets closed in October, around the time Evergrande made two last-minute bond-interest payments of $83.5 million and $45.2 million, The Journal reported.
One of the jets was sold to Earth Air, an aviation investor, for close to $40 million, and the second was purchased by Aviation Sales Associates for around $15 million, The Journal reported.
Earth Air President Alex Joya told The Journal the company bought the jet but said he couldn’t disclose details. A representative from Aviation Sales Associates declined to comment to The Journal.
Before the sales, Evergrande owned at least four jets, The Journal said.
Evergrande didn’t immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
In a nutshell, the root of the chaos is a shortage of computer chips that’s forced car companies worldwide to build far fewer vehicles. Automakers from General Motors to Toyota have cut millions of units of production because they simply don’t have the chips necessary. A modern vehicle can require thousands of them.
Manufacturers slashed their chip orders early on in the pandemic, but demand for cars roared back way quicker than they expected, leaving them scrambling for semiconductors. Worldwide appetite for connected microwaves and other smart devices gobbled up lots of the supply, while Covid-19 outbreaks and other unrelated disasters further knocked the chip industry off track.
But people kept buying cars and chipping away at the supply. At this point, the number of new cars available to buy in the US is at a mere fraction of typical pre-pandemic levels.
Fewer new vehicles to go around means manufacturers and dealers don’t need to offer big discounts anymore to keep cars moving. They’ve found that buyers are willing to pay up when the only other option is not buying a new car at all.
As the supply of new vehicles has spiraled downward, average transaction prices have skyrocketed. According to Edmunds, people are buying new cars for $278 above their suggested retail price on average. It’s a huge shift from before the pandemic, when paying $2,000-$3,000 below retail was typical.
Limited options and bloated prices on the new market have forced buyers to invade the used market, driving up prices there as well.
Even older vehicles are commanding high prices. Edmunds says the average five-year-old vehicle went for a whopping $24,495 in September. They were trading for $18,469 just before the pandemic hit.
Some industry watchers project that the chip crisis won’t sort itself out until at least 2023. And even once carmakers resume full production capacity, it’ll be a while before dealer inventories get back to normal – if they ever do.
Because they can now charge more for each unit, car companies and dealers have raked in huge profits in 2021, despite slower production and sales. More limited, targeted production may be where the industry is headed. That means higher prices may be here to stay for the long haul.
Chinese electric vehicle-maker Xpeng is planning to mass produce a flying car by 2024.
The flying car is being developed by Xpeng affiliate, HT Aero.
The company is aiming to price the X2 under 1 million Chinese yuan ($157,000.)
Chinese electric-vehicle startup Xpeng introduced a flying car over the weekend, which the company says it plans to mass produce by 2024.
The Xpeng X2 vehicle is being developed by affiliate HT Aero, a flying car startup, which raised over $500 million in its latest funding round last week.
The low-altitude flying car has a steering wheel for driving on roads as well as a single lever for flight modes, according to TechCrunch.
According to a Xpeng website post, the X2 features rotors that can be folded away when the car is operating on roads and expanded when the vehicle is flying. It can seat two people. Xpeng is touting the flying car for use in urban settings, like going from the airport to the office. The vehicle has a maximum flight time of 35 minutes.
The Nasdaq-listed electric-vehicle maker plans to sell the car at a price point below 1 million Chinese yuan ($157,000), according to Techcrunch, citing CEO He Xiaopeng.
Also known as electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles, such air taxis are not commercially available yet, but a study released in July by credit broker Pentagon Motor Group estimated the first flying cars would cost more than £535,831 ($738,000).
Flying cars have captured the attention of vehicle makers and investors, with giants like General Motors, Toyota, and Hyundai among those in the race. But even as more companies turn their attention to flying cars, challenges remain, including battery technology and safety standards, Insider’s Eric Adams reported in January.
Xpeng, which is one of Tesla’s closest rivals in China, released an electric sedan earlier this year that undercut Tesla’s pricing by more than a third. The Chinese company has been recording record growth in China this year: It said it delivered more than 30,00 vehicles in the first half of 2021, a year-over-year increase of 459%.
Wichita Airport said Alaska Airlines was cutting some services from the Kansas city to Seattle “due to labor shortages.”
Bruce Bennett/Getty Images
Wichita Airport said Alaska Airlines was cutting some flights to Seattle “due to labor shortages.”
The airline is cutting two flights from Wichita to Seattle each week in December.
It suggests that Alaska expects staffing problems to persist through the winter.
Alaska Airlines is cutting some of its flights between Wichita, Kansas, and Seattle, Washington, because it can’t find enough staff.
The airline usually runs a flight from Wichita to Seattle every day, but it’s cutting its Saturday flight in November and December as well as its Tuesday service in December, Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport said in an update earlier in October.
Alaska’s website shows that direct flights from Wichita to Seattle aren’t available on these days.
“The reduction is due to labor shortages,” the airport said, without elaborating. The news was first reported on by Wichita Business Journal. Alaksa Airlines did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
Seattle is the only route Alaska operates from Wichita Airport, and Alaska is the only airline with direct flights between the two cities.
American and Spirit’s cancellations were exacerbated by factors beyond just understaffing, and flights were canceled with little notice, but Alaska is cutting its services from from Wichita to Seattle in advance, suggesting that it expects staffing problems to persist.
Analysts and policymakers aren’t sure when the labor market will recover. Chief financial officers at some of the UK’s biggest companies told Deloitte that they expect the labor shortage to continue into 2023. UBS said in late July that it saw some signs that the labor shortage would end soon, but data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the number of workers quitting their jobs is continuing to soar.
Earlier this month, Goldman Sachs said it stuck by its forecast that the US unemployment rate would fall to 4.2% by the end of 2021 and 3.5% by the end of 2022 as more people return to work. Bank of America has also forecast the same figures.
The unemployment rate has been steadily declining after peaking at 14.8% in April 2020, when companies laid off staff due to the pandemic. In September it dropped to 4.8%.
Southwest said it canceled the flights because of a combination of severe weather and air traffic control issues.
Southwest Airlines
Southwest Airlines is issuing vouchers to passengers whose flights were canceled, USA Today reported.
Vouchers ranged from $100 to $250, the publication reported. These were on top of refunds.
Southwest canceled thousands of flights last weekend because of weather and air traffic control problems.
Southwest Airlines has been handing out vouchers of up to $250 to passengers who were stranded when it canceled more than 3,000 flights last weekend, USA Today first reported.
The airline started emailing affected passengers on Wednesday evening, saying that it would send vouchers, the publication reported.
“We’re so sorry for the disappointment this disruption caused and want a chance to make it up to you,” Southwest said in an email to a customer viewed by USA Today. The airline told the customer it would give them a $100 voucher, per USA Today.
Passengers told USA Today their vouchers had varied between $100 and $250. Passengers who had frequent flyer status or who were persistent in asking for a voucher or reimbursement appeared to get higher-value vouchers, USA Today reported.
The vouchers are in addition to flight refunds, which airlines are mandated to pay when they cancel flights and rebooking options either aren’t available or are rejected by customers.
A Southwest spokesperson told the publication that affected passengers should automatically get their voucher but that it “might be slower than usual due to the number of customers we are processing.”
Passengers told USA Today that in some cases they had to fork out for flights with alternative airlines and extra accommodation after their Southwest flights were canceled. Twitter users made similar remarks, and some said that the Southwest vouchers didn’t cover the extra expenses.
The spokesperson said that Southwest reviewed each case individually, and took into account the length of the delay, the quality of accommodation available, and flight cancellations when determining how much the vouchers would be worth.
Southwest did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
The airline is requiring its more than 54,000 employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by November 24, though staff can apply for disability, medical, and religious exemptions.
Separately, United Airlines said that 232 of its employees were being fired for not complying with its vaccine mandate.
Waymo’s self-driving cars are crowding down a street in San Francisco, residents say, per a KPIX report.
Andrej Sokolow/picture alliance via Getty Images
Waymo’s self-driving cars are mysteriously crowding a dead-end San Francisco street, residents say.
The vehicles make a multi-point turn and leave, but then another one arrives, people told KPIX.
One resident estimated that up to 50 Waymo autonomous vehicles come to the street on some days.
Residents of a San Francisco neighborhood say self-driving Waymo cars have been mysteriously flooding their dead-end street, local station KPIX first reported.
Automated electric Waymo vehicles are driving to the end of 15th Avenue in Richmond District and then making multi-point turns to get back out, residents told KPIX.
Sometimes, after one Waymo car leaves, another arrives and does the same thing, according to residents, per KPIX. The station showed footage of Waymo cars arriving and leaving, and reported that, at some points on Tuesday, multiple Waymo vehicles arrived at once.
Waymo told KPIX it would look into the matter, per the report.
“I noticed it while I was sleeping,” Jennifer King, a resident in Richmond District told KPIX. “I awoke to a strange hum and I thought there was a spacecraft outside my bedroom window.”
King estimated that on some days as many 50 Waymo vehicles drive down 15th Avenue. “It’s literally every five minutes. And we’re all working from home, so this is what we hear.”
In San Francisco, Waymo has “autonomous specialists” riding in the driver’s seat to monitor the tech and share feedback, per its website.
King said residents had “talked to the drivers, who don’t have much to say other than the car is programmed and they’re just doing their job.”
Another resident, Andrea Lewin, told KPIX that it had been going on for about six to eight weeks, maybe more. “There are fleets of them driving through the neighborhood regularly,” she told KPIX.
It’s unclear what is causing the vehicles to flock to the street.
Waymo, which is owned by Google parent company Alphabet, didn’t immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment. The company didn’t provide KPIX with an explanation for the influx of vehicles on 15th Avenue.
A Taco Bell in San Francisco is installing six electric vehicle chargers, Forbes reported.
Shutterstock
A Taco Bell in San Francisco is installing six electric-vehicle chargers in its parking lot.
The new charging station will take up 16 spaces: six for the chargers, 10 for solar panels.
Other Taco Bell restaurants in thh US could get electric-vehicle chargers if the project expands.
A company that runs 216 Taco Bell restaurants is installing an electric-vehicle charging station at one of its San Francisco locations, and could install more across the US, Forbes first reported on Tuesday.
The chargers are built by Tritium and managed by software from ChargeNet, and they’re being installed in the restaurant’s parking lot, per a press release from Tritium. The 75 kilowatt chargers can give cars up to 46 miles of range within 10 minutes, the company said.
The six chargers will take up a parking spot each, while a solar array that serves as a backup of renewable energy for the chargers will take up 10 spaces, Mike Calise, Tritium president of the Americas, told Forbes.
Tritium and ChargeNet are working with Diversified Restaurant Group (DRG), a restaurant company that runs 216 Taco Bell locations across California, Nevada, Kansas, and Missouri and has more than 5,000 employees, per its website. The group also runs some Arby’s restaurants.
The partnership wants to expand the project to other Bay Area Taco Bell restaurants and may also expand it to other parts of the US, Tosh Dutt, CEO of ChargeNet, said in the press release.
Calise told Forbes he expected the combination of fast food and electric-vehicle charging to take off because people would feel comfortable charging their cars at a place they’re familiar with. It could even boost electric-vehicle adoption, he said.
“If you can put these DC [direct current] fast chargers in local proximity neighborhoods, like this is, then people feel OK, it’s safe to dip my toe in the water, not only that, I’m gonna buy an EV and I’m gonna get a charge really quickly and oh, by the way, I’m gonna get some really good Taco Bell food,” he said.
ChargeNet was working on a way for people to order food from the charging stations, Forbes reported.
The companies are getting funding for the project from the California Energy Commission’s California Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Project (CALeVIP) and the California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC) Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP).
DRG, Tritium, and ChargeNet didn’t immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment
This isn’t the first-ever electric vehicle charging station at a Taco Bell – others are run by different companies, such as Electrify America, which has a charging site at a Taco Bell in Washington state.
The problem isn’t as bad in Scotland, where I’m based, and I haven’t been severely impacted by the driver shortages as I work for a small family company called Hebrides Haulage.
I spend three days a week blissfully driving across the scenic Scottish Highlands with the worst danger being a deer jumping onto the vehicle in the dark, damaging the bonnet.
View of the narrow roads in the Highlands
Tomasz Oryński
It’s my job to deliver packages of any size and shape from Glasgow to the small islands off the west coast of mainland Scotland, called the Outer Hebrides. I transport everything, from fridges to fresh flowers, and I even collect whiskey deliveries from mountaintop distilleries.
I have to take a ferry to reach these islands. Some ferry journeys last two hours, but I’m able to eat in a restaurant and take a shower on board if necessary.
Truck on a ferry.
Tomasz Oryński
What I love most about my job is driving through the Scottish Highlands and taking in the beautiful scenery.
I’ve spotted eagles, otters, deer, badgers, and even the odd Barn Owl, some of which I’ve caught on camera and posted onto my YouTube channel.
Sometimes, I drive for more than 40 miles down a one-way coastal track.
Truck parked in Scottish Highlands
Tomasz Oryński
My day starts at around 8 a.m. The truck is always loaded from the night before, so all I need to do is work out the best route to reach my destination.
Before setting off, I plan the best places to take breaks where I can walk on the beach for 45 minutes or grab fish and chips from a takeaway and sit on the sand.
When I have night shifts, I tend to sleep in the van, but if I’m lucky, I’ll find a cabin along the way. There’s a strong sense of community in the Highlands, and the people living there are more than happy to help you out if you need shelter or your truck breaks down.
Truck driving on coastal road in the Scottish Highlands.
Tomasz Oryński
I wouldn’t like the job if I had to drive on the motorway all the time, going from warehouse to warehouse. I did it a few years ago and it was boring. It was admittedly less boring than being stuck in an office and filling out Excel spreadsheets – I used to have an office job and hated it.
I try to find balance in life so I’ve decided I’d rather earn less and have a nice job, than earn more and be in the mainstream trucking industry which is littered with staff shortages, poor working conditions, and heavy workloads.
Truck driving down a coastal road.
Tomasz Oryński
When I’m not driving, I make time to write and produce podcasts.
On Mondays, I spend the day at home in Glasgow, writing a weekly column which focuses on Polish politics with a “tongue-in-cheek” twist. After much research, planning, and writing the column, I post it onto my website. I also translate it into Polish, and then into Czech.
The writing can sometimes stretch into Tuesday, depending on what I’m writing.
Tuesdays are dedicated to making a podcast based on current affairs. I’ll invite guests, such as co-hosts and experts on to chat about everything from the refugee crisis to financial troubles in Poland.
Recording each podcast takes one hour, and this happens whenever my guests are available to chat. This means I may have to commit some hours of my driving days to speaking to people for the podcast, which goes live on Mondays.
That’s why I’m not your typical truck driver – my job is one in 100, or even less.
