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Quest Means Business

England Lifts Quarantine Rules For Vaccinated Travelers From E.U. And U.S.; Carnival U.K. To Restart Cruises After England Lifts Ban; Federal Reserve Not Changing Interest Rates, Asset Purchases; Duolingo Unveils IPO; Flight Attendants Take Self-Defense Training As Incidents With Aggressive And Violent Passengers Spike. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired July 28, 2021 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[15:00:16]

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: The Dow remains lower after the Fed holds rates on hold. We have an hour together. It is the final hour of

trading on the day, but you can see sharply lower and then rallies toward the end. We're now down just 31 points. I wouldn't -- you know, suddenly, I

put money that it wouldn't go positive before the day is out.

Anyway, that's the hour ahead. The markets as they are trading and the main events of the day.

The Fed Chair has blamed slow vaccinations and the delta variant for keeping policy loose longer. The Fed Chair is taking questions now. We'll

parse his language with the State Street CEO.

The U.K. is to open to vaccinated Americans and Europeans. The U.S. still hasn't returned the favor. Tonight, hear from the CEO of Heathrow Airport

and the head of Carnival U.K.

Bon jour. What we struggle to learn French, Duolingo has exploded during the pandemic. The founder on its day it went public as I parlez-vous

Francais, Duolingo CEO apre IPO. In other words en direct de New York Nuevo, it is Wednesday -- you can see how this is going to go -- badly.

It is the 28th of July, I am still Richard Quest and I do mean business.

Good evening. Tonight, the travel industry is seeing a glimmer of hope for a late summer rebound as England and possibly Scotland and Wales as well

relaxes rules for visitors from Europe and the United States.

The British Transport Minister has confirmed starting from Monday, Americans and European travelers will no longer need to quarantine upon

arrival in England, so long as they can show proof they are vaccinated. They will still need to do a pre-departure test and they'll still have to

do the PCR test before day two.

The announcement comes at a precarious moment for the pandemic on both sides of the Atlantic. Cases are rising sharply. The Biden administration

only earlier this week made it clear, they are not lifting travel restrictions on Europe and the U.K., and they cited specifically the delta

variant.

However, the British Transport Secretary explained why the U.K. was opening up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRANT SHAPPS, BRITISH TRANSPORT SECRETARY: The first stage was allowing people who have been vaccinated in the U.K. to go away and come back, and

then, the second stage that we're announcing today comes in on Monday, is to allow people who have been vaccinated in Europe or the U.S. to travel

there. Then the third stage is looking at what happens at other countries, and particularly where we can rely on their data and rely on their vaccine

that they are using.

So, we'll be looking at that next month during August and opening that up as quickly as is practical and safe to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: On both sides of the Atlantic, share prices for airlines have benefited from the prospect of a late summer rebound. IAG, owners of

British Airways and Iberia amongst others and EasyJet closed higher in London having been ravaged in recent weeks. JetBlue shares are up in New

York. Today's announcement is just in time for the rollout of JetBlue's first New York to London route, which begins next month.

The British capital is a key hub for international travel. London accounts for three of the five most lucrative air routes. So, just take British

Airways, and before pandemic, BA was making more than a billion dollars a year flying solely Heathrow and JFK. London City is actually, New York and

London. No other carrier operated a service as valuable as that.

CNN's Scott McLean is at London's Heathrow Airport tonight. Scott, the letter had been written by Heathrow. They had been screaming for this to

take place. They must be very pleased that at least now, America and Europe is open.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You're absolutely right, Richard. Because think of this for a second. No sane person would have come to this

country on a vacation or any kind of a trip unless they absolutely had to, and that's because for an American today to get to the U.K., they would

have to take a total of five tests. They would have to quarantine for a minimum of five days. Spend easily north of $200.00 on all of those tests.

And so it made it pretty prohibitive, and so as a result, a lot of those tourist dollars were heading to Europe because it is simply is easier for

Americans to go there. It is easier for Europeans to stay in Europe because they can move around the block with relative ease.

That was causing big, big problems for Heathrow Airport and for the British travel sector in general, which left a lot of people puzzled considering

that the U.K. jumped out with such a huge advantage when it came to the pace of vaccinations early on.

[15:05:17]

MCLEAN: The U.K. still holds a substantial advantage in the number of people or the percentage of the population fully vaccinated over both the

E.U. and the U.K. (sic). I spoke with the CEO of Heathrow Airport earlier today and I asked him if he thinks if the government squandered that

advantage.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN HOLLAND-KAYE, CEO, HEATHROW AIRPORT: They got far more passengers from the United States going into Europe than we have here right now. So, we're

at about 10 percent of our pre-pandemic levels, they are at about 50 percent of pre-pandemic levels.

But we can get that back because there are so many people in the U.K. who have businesses in the States who want to come over here to come and visit

them. And this is a really important start, and I hope the next step will be that we can open at the other end and British people can go visit the

United States, and many people are just dying to get over and see the U.S.

MCLEAN: It sounds like you've just given me a round-about way of saying yes, they have squandered that advantage.

HOLLAND-KAYE: We are living in the pandemic. It is not -- the game is not over yet, but it is definitely the case that we are at a competitive

disadvantage if we don't open up. But now, by opening up to the United States, we can let business get back to what it is best at and we can help

support the U.K. economy.

And I think the U.K. can once more be the best connected country in the whole of Europe for connections with the United States.

MCLEAN: How much of a problem was it that the U.S. doesn't have a universal system for registering that you've been vaccinated?

HOLLAND-KAYE: Well, it makes it harder and that's one of the reasons why the government took a little bit longer to open up the United States

because in some places, you have a C.D.C. card, in some places you have an app, and what we've been showing in some trials we've done with Virgin

Atlantic and British Airways and American Airlines, is that they can check that people do have the right certificates at check-in and that is good

enough for the U.K. government.

And we presented that research a couple of days ago and the government today has announced that people from the U.S. can now travel if they have

been doubly vaccinated. So, that's fantastic news.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: Scott, you put your finger on the problem. The E.U. does have the digital certificate, the Green Pass, if you like. The U.S. has 50 states

with silly little pieces of cardboard and no central way and even the vaccines that we've got, they all seem to have -- the passes seem to expire

digitally. But they found a way around it.

MCLEAN: Yes, exactly, and I asked him about that off camera as well, Richard, about you know you have this system where it is sort of a

hodgepodge. All 50 states have a different system. I think, you'll correct me if I am wrong, but in New York, you're carrying around a card issued --

sort of a cardboard card issued by the C.D.C. that says that you're vaccinated. In many other states, there are stale-run apps that's your

information gets uploaded into.

But there is no universal system, which would be an absolutely nightmare if you're the Border Force officer who has to try to figure out, whether

whatever you're presenting them is the real deal or not. He says that the advantage of this system is that those vaccinations will be checked

universally at the source of the flight and then only spot checked over here.

Because my question to him was, well, couldn't you just fake that little card in your wallet, and he said, yes, but of course, somebody in New York

or in the United States is going to be better at spotting something that might have been doctored or faked than somebody over here. So, he thinks

that he is pretty confident that they are not going to have any big issues.

QUEST: Scott, thank you. Thank you for joining us. That is indeed the sort of vaccination to say that I've got in my phone, just making sure there is

no details on there. Basically, it is nothing more than just a piece of card that tells you the date that you've been vaccinated, what you were

vaccinated with, and who did the vaccination.

There was more good news for U.K. travelers. Holiday makers will now be able to take an overseas cruise and that starts soon as well, next Monday.

The British government says it will lift the ban on international cruises.

We're lucky, Simon Palethorpe is the President of Carnival U.K., two British brands, P&O and Cunard plan to start routes in the coming months,

joins me now.

Unlike your counterparts in the airline industry that can certainly sort of find -- rustle up, lease five planes, they've got the slot, they've got the

infrastructure, you can't, how quickly can you get one of the two ships that sail out of the U.K. up and running?

SIMON PALETHORPE, PRESIDENT, CARNIVAL U.K.: Well, firstly, this is just great news. We've been working since March 2020 on this with the government

and with various health authorities. So, today's news is incredibly welcome. It is welcome for our guests, it is welcome for our crew, for all

of our staff, and for a huge supply chain that depends on the cruise industry.

To answer your question, we've already been running what we call domestic cruising. So, that's cruising out of Southampton, generally; going and

looking at some stunning coastline, Jurassic coast, Cornwall, the Cornish Coast which is wonderful, the Scottish Highlands and Islands, and so we

have ships that are already sailing.

[15:10:10]

PALETHORPE: What this is doing is, this is allowing to us bring the rest of our ships out into action. But also, it allows the ships that we've already

got sailing in domestic cruises to widen their repertoire and go further afield, you know, Portugal, Spain, Caribbean, these are the sort of places

that are really first and foremost in our minds.

And so, we don't need to be going immediately into those places, but come September, we'll be ramping up our international cruises.

QUEST: Right. Because you've had -- I mean, you really had just been waiting for this day, haven't you, in the sense that if you're not ready

now, your big boss will be asking, why not? You've had plenty of time to polish the dining silver and get literally ship shape.

Are you concerned -- I mean, you know, the problem is -- it does get worse and I understand you're doing everything possible. I've spoken, of course,

to the CEO several times on this program.

PALETHORPE: Yes.

QUEST: But are you concerned that the delta variant's transmissibility, even to those who have been double vaccinated, whilst not life threatening

in most cases, is a worry.

PALETHORPE: We've been working with the government for months and months and months to make sure that we look after the wellbeing of both our crew

and our guests on board. So, we're getting everybody to be double vaccinated, i.e. both jabs, plus 14 days, plus we're then making sure we

test everyone, testing our crew regularly, testing our guests before they even get on board.

So, now, we think we're cruising actually what should be the safest bubble you can possibly be in for a travel experience. So, we're very confident.

QUEST: And the pent-up demand for cruising. I mean, the sheer number of berths worldwide is actually quite small compared to airline seats, for

example. I'm constantly surprised at that. Are you still maintaining your expansion plans? Or to repair balance sheets and to sort of get things

going again, you're going to conserve for a year or two?

PALETHORPE: I think it would be somewhere in between. So, you know, we will probably grow still pretty reasonably by any normal industry standards,

maybe not quite as quickly as we had planned when we were -- before the pandemic. But we are seeing incredible demand.

We've really seen, our guests just waiting in the wings saying, hey, we really want to sail with you the moment you think it is right. And we've

certainly -- look at our 2022 bookings, for example. They are really strong. So, I'm very optimistic that that growth can be got back on track

in due course.

QUEST: So, the first biggie, the first international cruise, the first one that will sail from the U.K., do you know where it's going to yet?

PALETHORPE: We've actually got two ships heading out on the same day. We've got our flag ship Britannia and we've got our brand new liquefied natural

gas-powered ship, Iona sailing from Southampton on the 25th of September, and they are heading south, and we're going to places like the Canaries,

Portugal, Spain, so wonderful voyages.

QUEST: Oh. That would be fully booked, otherwise, I'd be saying we'll be on board. All right, sir, good to see you, sir. I appreciate it. We will

continue to talk more as the season goes on.

Congratulations. It's been a long time to get this far. But you know, it is good news tonight for travel in the U.K., and particularly, of course,

cruising and airlines. Thank you very much, sir. Appreciate your time tonight.

PALETHORPE: Thank you.

QUEST: Now, the Federal -- let's turn to our agenda on interest rates. The Federal Reserve is keeping one eye on vaccinations and the other on

inflation. The Central Bank's latest position in tapering and the economic recovery, in a moment.

And on the eve of its IPO, Robinhood reveals it is under investigation by Wall Street regulators. Is it serious and what it means? In a moment.

QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. Good evening.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:16:36]

QUEST: Mixed is the word to describe U.S. markets. The Dow is up. Well, it's down, actually. Well, it was up, you see. It started the day up and

then it went down. I actually thought it might have -- I actually thought it might have gone positive, but it seems to be sort of heading lower, but

not much. Let's not get too concerned about it.

Boeing is the one that is sort of propping up what gains there are. It is up almost five percent on a surprise profit in its earnings report this

year.

Interest rates in the U.S. aren't rising just yet as expected. The Fed is keeping its wait and see approach towards what it calls an incomplete

recovery. The Chair, Jerome Powell, there you see him, says the Fed is still confident inflation will fall as the recovery continues. It is the

timing that is the issue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEROME POWELL, U.S. FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN: We think that inflation should move down over time. Now, we don't have much confidence, let's say,

in the timing of that or the size of the effects in the near term.

I would say in the near term that the risks to inflation are probably to the upside. I have some confidence in the medium term that inflation will

move back down. Again, it is hard to say when that will be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: He has some confidence, Clare Sebastian, not exactly a ringing endorsement, if you like, but the Fed is stubbornly sticking to this idea

as we see in its thinking, so tell me, what did they decide and how did they decide it?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Richard, I think that that clip shows how tricky this communication exercise is for the Fed.

We're in a situation where they are dealing with not only rising inflation, but a labor market that in the words of Jay Powell, still have a ways to

go.

They're dealing with the delta variant, with the slowing pace of vaccinations. All of this contributes to the future path of monetary

policy, but the key to understanding what happened here is that the markets are really waiting for a signal from the Fed, the tapering talk, the idea

of pulling back on its asset purchases has begun in earnest.

I don't think that's what we got today. The key line from the statement was that the economy has made progress toward these goals, and the committee

will continue to assess progress in the coming meetings. Those goals, of course, being maximum employment and as the framework that the Fed has laid

out sets out, inflation overshooting the two percent mark for some time and then coming back down so that it averages out two percent for some time.

It does seem that the labor market is the bottleneck here and inflation of course is overshooting much more than many had expected. But Powell

reasserting what we have heard him say multiple times that the labor market still has a ways to go, 9.5 million people, Richard, out of work in the

U.S.

QUEST: The unemployment rate has come down quite considerably, almost to the levels that it was before. But Clare, that quote that you just did

since December, the economy has made progress and the committee will continue to assess progress in coming meetings. I mean, that's sort of a

negative, isn't it, in the sense of it saying we're not discussing it yet. Rather than, we are about to discuss it then.

SEBASTIAN: Yes, I mean, it is sort of talking about, talking about, talking about and assessing. He did say that look, they have sort of started to

discuss what it could look like, the shape, and the make-up of those asset purchases right now. The of course, purchasing $80 billion a month in

government bonds and $40 billion in mortgage back securities.

And Richard, I think this raises a big question. We have seen the Fed balance sheet balloon. It really never went back to normal after 2008. We

saw a little bit of tapering over the course of 2018. You can see it there, and then, it absolutely skyrocketed last year during the pandemic.

[15:20:11]

SEBASTIAN: We saw those emergency meetings where they decided to buy all these assets. I think this just shows how delicate this moment is for the

Fed, it is just not that easy to communicate this successfully to the market and then to start bringing back down those asset purchases when the

market has been used to them for so long.

QUEST: Clare Sebastian. Clare, thank you.

Ronald O'Hanley is the Chief Executive of State Street. He joins me now from Boston in Massachusetts. Good to have you, sir. Thank you -- excuse

me, thank you for taking the time.

The way the Fed put it today, tapering is not on the table yet. It is going to happen. You know it is going to happen. I know it is going to happen.

But we're not talking about it yet. Is that sufficient for you?

RONALD O'HANLEY, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, STATE STREET: Well, first of all, Richard, it's good to be here. And secondly, as your prior guest just said,

this is a balancing act that the Fed is trying to strike here. And I think it really is about the labor markets in this very unusual situation where

high unemployment, and a high number of unfilled jobs and the clearing rate is actually very low.

And I think the belief of the Fed is that they need to get that labor market back up and running properly, get employment at a much higher level.

And as long as inflation remains transitory and doesn't get baked into wages, which evidently is what the Fed is seeing, it is not seeing any

evidence as being baked into wages. I think, they are going to stay the course.

QUEST: Have a listen, sir, if you will, yesterday on this program, we had the Managing Director of the I.M.F. We were talking about tapering because

they just brought out -- of course, the I.M.F. has its biannual, or six- monthly, I should say, World Economic Outlook. Have a listen to what the MD said on this question of tapering and the wider ramifications that will

happen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTALINA GEORGIEVA, MANAGING DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND: What we are seeing is already the Fed is contemplating that there may be an

acceleration of withdrawal of this massive support. When this tightening of financial conditions happen, we might see a second shoe to drop. We may see

countries with high level of that, especially dollar denominated, in a very difficult condition.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Sir, arguably, the same can be said for many in the investment community. Once the rates -- once the tapering begins and the process

starts, are you worried the markets will become dislocated?

O'HANLEY: I think there is some reason to believe that and what was interesting in the Fed's statement today is, it didn't get a lot of notice

yet, but the creation of these two new repo facilities. And at least one of them, I believe is intended to help manage any kind of disruption that

might occur in there.

So, I think they're getting ready. I don't think there was at all, at least what I read and heard, any signal as to timing yet.

QUEST: If we actually look at the economy, what is your gut feeling telling you? And I ask that because of course the market is a completely different

beast than what is happening in the real economy. And there has to be some coalescence between the two. So, what are your investors -- what are your

clients telling you about what is happening in the real economy?

O'HANLEY: I think what you're seeing in the economy is an enormous snapback, particularly in those developed countries where vaccination rates

are fairly high and vaccine availability is high. And you're seeing an enormous snapback.

I mean, we can't forget the kind of dislocation we had. I mean, seldom if ever has the world economy ever been kind of curtailed the way it was on

such short notice as it was last year. So, you're seeing that snapback, but you're also seeing a fair amount of dislocation because of all these

shortages. Some of them, you've been through this before.

So I'm actually optimistic about the economy. It is just really a question of the timing of it. I think that's what the Fed is thinking about.

QUEST: I want to talk about zero emissions and the investment strategies around it and the announcements that you've been making about it. It is

very difficult to put in place a comprehensive and coherent zero emissions ESG policy at the moment when there is such uncertainty.

[15:25:01]

O'HANLEY: I think that's right, but this is a long-term issue that first of all, must be solved and secondly, requires actions today that will lead to

that kind of problem solving. And notwithstanding the uncertainty we have today, there are steps that need to be taken.

There is a lot of attention on this now from virtually the entire world community, but it is going to take a mobilization of capital that we

haven't really seen before.

QUEST: But when you say you want zero emissions and assets by 2050, that's a long goal. Well, maybe not that far off, but does that start now? And how

does that translate in real investment decisions?

First, whether you are don't invest in those -- in fossil fuel industries, but then they have got to get capital somewhere, and secondly, how deep are

you prepared to go into companies to find out that the companies you invest in, to find out their environmental and emissions record?

O'HANLEY: Well, I think from an individual investor's perspective, let's just use us as an example. We're not telling companies what they need to

do. But we are very long-term investors, so we want to make sure that these companies actually are taking into account the need to get to net zero and

that we understand the steps that management and Board are taking to do so.

In many cases, that actually doesn't involve -- in fact, very few cases that involve us divesting, it is actually getting a better understanding of

what these companies are doing.

QUEST: Very glad you came along, sir. Please, let's talk again as the year moves on and we find out -- we can compare notes, if you like, about how --

when tapering is on its direction. Thank you, sir. I appreciate it.

O'HANLEY: Thank you, Richard.

QUEST: How many of you, like myself, are amongst the second language learners, I hope, who have tried out Duolingo? The app's popularity is now

paying off. I'll speak to the CEO on the company's first day of trading.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:30:15]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

QUEST: The language learning app Duolingo celebrating a warm welcome on Wall Street. Investors have now valued the company way higher than what

they thought., $6.5 billion in its debut. The shares surged nearly 40 percent past, blowing past the IPO price.

The app became a household favorite during the pandemic mainly because you can learn a language at your own time, at your own pace. The -- you see, it

is now up 31 percent. I'll have some questions for the CEO about that in just a moment.

But first, I hadn't heard of Duolingo. I'm highly skeptical of these apps that teach to you learn languages. So I tried it out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

QUEST (voice-over): Yes.

My CSE great fall (ph).

They are in Paris.

Ah, (INAUDIBLE).

(INAUDIBLE).

Correct.

(Speaking French).

QUEST: What?

What?

QUEST: (Speaking French).

(Speaking French).

(INAUDIBLE). Oh, sorry. (INAUDIBLE) what you said.

(INAUDIBLE).

Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: I have progressed from (Speaking French). to (Speaking French). Luis Von Ahn is the chief executive of Duolingo, joins me from the Nasdaq in New

York.

Congratulations, sir, on the IPO.

Can you hear me?

LUIS VON AHN, COFOUNDER AND CEO, DUOLINGO: Yes, yes, thank you for having me.

Excellent, right.

The -- first of all, the pop on the price.

Did your brokers price it correctly?

(LAUGHTER)

AHN: I mean, ultimately, you know, investors will do what investors will do. I think we've seen very positive feedback on our road show, going on

until now. We've heard from investors, they like it doing this is for a few reasons. They like that our revenues have been more than doubling every

year for the last few years in a row.

And they also like that we're the category leader in language learning. It's a massive market in the world, $60 billion a year and as the category

leader of online language learning, I think investors just like that a lot.

QUEST: Well, it came along at the right time. I've decided I'm going to learn French for my 60th birthday next year. So when I was given this today

-- and I'm having a go at it -- and it is quite addictive. I mean, every time I seem to have 5-10 minutes, I end up going on to the app. You're not

making any money out of it yet.

But how realistic is it?

It's a great pastime on the subway or if you've got five minutes with a cup of tea.

But will it help me really learn a language?

AHN: It is. Duolingo is very effective. We did a study last year to see how much people learn. And we found that when people finish what is called Unit

5, that's about halfway down the French course, for example, since you're doing French, they learn the equivalent of four university semesters of

French classes.

By the way, they do so in about half the time with Duolingo. The reason it is effective is because it turns out we have a ton of users, tens of

millions of users. And we have data from all of them. And we use that to personalize how we teach.

So the more you use Duolingo, the more it really finds out what you're good at and bad at and it may find that you're not good at the past tense, for

example, and will give you more exercises for the past tense. So that's why it's so effective and it can be really very effective.

QUEST: Don't worry about the past tense. I'm having trouble with the past, future and any tense. It uses AI and gamification (ph), whatever that might

be, techniques, which suggests you're ahead of the game.

But isn't there an air about this, that you built a very good mousetrap but somebody else could build a better one or get very close to yours and,

therefore, your customers will try somewhere else?

[15:35:00]

QUEST: It is very ephemeral, online apps (ph).

AHN: Well, we hope it's not. This -- a number of things that really keeps us ahead. One is we spent most of our effort, for example, the proceeds

that we'll get from this IPO, We spent most of our effort on research and development to try to make the app better and better to always stay ahead

of the game.

The other thing is we have this huge date mode. We have so much data moat. We have so much from our users. And we use that to improve how well we

teach that it is hard to catch up with us because we have, for example, we have, every single day, we have over 500 million exercises that are

answered by our users.

And we use that exactly to improve how well we teach. For example, we find out -- because we're seeing everything they're doing, we find out better

and better ways to teach every language.

QUEST: So if I use this for, what, 15 minutes a day, for the next year, is that not long enough?

AHN: Well, it depends on how well you want to get -- how high of a level you want to get to in a language. Learning a language for you as an English

speaker learning French, if you want to get really, really to the point where you're very good at it, like what people call fluent, it's probably

going to take you 300 to 500 hours.

So for example, that would be about an hour a day for a year. Now if you use it less, you know, you learn less. That doesn't mean it's useless. For

example, you can get to a point where you can kind of get around in Paris if you use it for 15 minutes a day, give it nine months. You can get

around.

QUEST: Well, we'll give it a go. Who knows, by the next time we speak, I might be able to do part of the interview in French, which will be an

interesting thing if you don't speak French. But --

AHN: That would be pretty fun. That would be fun.

QUEST: But at least I can say at the moment -- (Speaking French), which it means I love eating croissants. Thank you, sir. I appreciate it.

Congratulations on the successful IPO. I appreciate your time today.

AHN: Thank you very much.

QUEST: As travel is getting back underway, more people will surely be returning to the skies after the U.K. opened up. Onboard planes and

passengers are growing more and more confrontational. CNN's Pete Muntean reports that some flight attendants are learning to fight back if and when

necessary.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They are taking a defensive stance against a growing problem in the air. Flight attendants

are training to hit, elbow and gouge simulated aggressive passengers with actual passengers getting more violent than ever.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are going to possibly die. You need to defend yourself at all costs.

MUNTEAN: Undercover federal air marshals are guiding eight flight attendants through this self-defense course, the first class offered by the

TSA since training was paused by the pandemic.

CARRIE, FLIGHT ATTENDANT: It's sad that it needs to happen.

MUNTEAN: Flight attendant Carrie is taking this class having just returned to her airline following a leave of absence.

Are you scared?

CARRIE: Sometimes, a little bit, yes. You get on a plane full of people and some of them aren't happy and you just never know what's going to happen.

MUNTEAN: A brawl breaking out on a Frontier Airlines flight is among the latest unruly passenger many incidents that the FAA says are skyrocketing.

Federal documents detail show passengers have shouted down, grabbed and struck flight attendance thousands of times since the start of the zero

tolerance policy earlier this year.

In May, a passenger punched a Southwest Airlines flight attendant causing her to lose two of her teeth, according to her union.

NOEL CURTIN, ASSISTANT SUPERVISOR OF AIR MARSHAL IN CHARGE, TSA MIAMI FIELD OFFICE: There's no back up of 30,000 feet. So that plane is on the air that

has a crew that has to do with the issues. And it's incumbent on us to make sure they're fully equipped.

MUNTEAN: Federal officials say some passengers are fueled by alcohol but most are fighting back over the federal transportation mask mandate, which

make up three-quarters of all incidents reported just this year.

SARA NELSON, INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT, ASSOCIATION OF FLIGHT ATTENDANTS CWA: It's bad out there.

MUNTEAN: Sarah Nelson of the Association of Flight Attendants says airlines should pay their people to take these classes and the federal government

should require that flight crews attend each year.

NELSON: That we can have that muscle memory and be able to respond when someone is immediately attacking us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ready? Move.

MUNTEAN: Here, instructors are teaching techniques that could be lifesaving, like pinning an attacker who is armed with a knife. But the TSA

says only a few hundred people have enrolled in this course after it reopened training in late June.

Veteran flight attendant Donna O'Neil (ph) says more like her should take this class to deal with the type of passenger becoming too common.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. Ready? Move.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't ever want to have to use any of this, but if I had to, I certainly feel much more confident.

MUNTEAN: Pete Muntean, CNN, Sunrise, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: That's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for the moment. I'll be back at the top of the hour. You've got to make a dash for the closing bell. I do need to

show you the way the markets are trading across all.

[15:40:00]

QUEST: You've got the Dow which, I mean, we -- I thought, all right, an hour ago, I thought we might have a rally back up into positive. But we're

not. That's not going to happen. We seem to be sort of bouncing around, will close around about 80 or 90 points.

This shows the way the day has been trading. It is only the Dow that's down. And by the way, it would be down a lot more if wasn't for Boeing,

which had excellent results and therefore, has propped it up. The SNP 500, Nasdaq, there you have it. "MARKETPLACE EUROPE" is next. I'll have a dash

to the bell in 20 minutes.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MARKETPLACE EUROPE)

[15:58:14]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

QUEST: I'm Richard Quest. Two minutes to go. A dash to the closing bell. The Federal Reserve's wait and see approach is reflected in the markets.

The wait and see of investors is, just look at that. Up, down, try to rally and then finally we are just off the session lows but not by much.

The SNP and the Nasdaq are up. Tech heavies Facebook and PayPal report earnings after the bell. Airline shares got a lift after England relaxed

restrictions for some vaccinated travelers.

Starting on Monday, visitors from the U.S. and Europe will no longer need to quarantine upon arrival to the U.K. on the same day England also lifted

its year-long ban on international cruises.

On QUEST MEANS BUSINESS, I spoke to the president of one of Britain's largest cruise operators, Carnival UK. He told me the announcement was a

long time coming.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SIMON PALETHORPE, PRESIDENT, CARNIVAL UK: This is just great news. We've been working since March 2020 on this with the government and with various

health authorities. So today's news is incredibly welcome, for our guests, for our crews, for all of our staff and for our huge supply chain that

depends upon the cruise industry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: So now the Dow components, because this really is a tale of what actually happened. Look at the Dow and you see Boeing is at the top, it's

up almost 5 percent bearing in mind, Boeing is a massive, massive component in the Dow. But not enough to lift it into the green.

Because you do have big heavyweights like McDonald's, AmEx and others all pushing down. And indeed there are more red than green. So Boeing alone

wasn't able to reverse it. And as you can see, the other gains in the greeners are not that great.

And that is the dash to the bell. I'm Richard Quest in New York, a busy day. Whatever you're up to in the hours ahead, I hope it is profitable. The

closing bell on Wall Street is ringing. "THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER" begins now.

END