• Boeing is having a rough year.
• The company has faced mechanical problems, lawsuits, a leadership shake-up, and layoffs.
• Here's a breakdown of how Boeing's year has gone from bad to worse.

Boeing has been going through it this year.

From losing a door plug on an Alaska Airlines flight, causing a side panel to blow out in midair, to an exodus of corporate executives, the company has faced a litany of crises in 2024. The company's stock has fallen about 35% this year.

In a message to employees during the company's third-quarter earnings call, Boeing CEO Kely Ortberg said the company was at a "crossroads."

"My mission here is pretty straightforward," she said. "Turn this big ship in the right direction and restore Boeing to the leadership position that we all know and want."

Here's how Boeing's year went from bad to worse.

Emergency on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282

The problems began almost immediately this year when, on January 5, Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 lost a door plug midair, blowing a hole in the side of the plane. While no one died in the incident, several passengers were injured, and the pilots were forced to make an emergency landing in Portland, Oregon.

In the aftermath of the incident, the FAA temporarily grounded over 170 of Boeing's 737 Max 9 planes until they could complete safety inspections.

The Justice Department opened an investigation into Boeing shortly after, and the FBI told passengers aboard the flight that they might have been victims of a crime.

Ongoing litigation

Boeing was hit with multiple lawsuits this year.

Passengers from the Alaska Airlines flight filed a class action suit against the company just days after the incident.

"Passengers were shocked and confused, thrust into a waking nightmare unsure if these were their last seconds alive," the lawsuit said.

Boeing's shareholders filed a separate class action suit against the company in January, stating that it had prioritized profit over safety, Reuters reported.

Separately, in July, Boeing struck a plea deal related to two 737 Max crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people. If a judge had approved the deal, it would have allowed Boeing to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud, avoid a trial, pay a fine of about $244 million, and invest at least $455 million in safety and compliance measures.

Boeing agreed to pay $2.5 billion in 2021 in a deal with the federal government to avoid prosecution for the crashes, but Justice Department officials said in May that Boeing had violated portions of the deal, putting a trial back on the table. Relatives of the deceased passengers asked a Texas judge in October to throw out the agreement, which they called a "sweetheart" deal. The families have previously called for the company to pay a fine amounting to nearly $25 billion.

In December, the judge rejected the deal. A lawyer representing families who lost people in the 2019 crash told BI that they "anticipate a significant renegotiation of the plea deal that incorporates terms truly commensurate with the gravity of Boeing's crimes."

FAA audit of Boeing's safety procedures

The Federal Aviation Administration commissioned a report into Boeing following the fatal 2018 and 2019 crashes — and the results published in February weren't good news for the company.

The FAA report found 27 insufficient areas in Boeing's safety procedures, including no clear system for employees to report safety concerns, confusing management structures, and poor communication with employees about safety procedures.

The latest statement from the FAA about Boeing's compliance to remedy the safety issues was published in August. It said the agency continues "actively monitoring Boeing's progress in a variety of ways," including regular reviews by FAA experts of Boeing's safety procedures and issuing airworthiness certificates for every newly produced Boeing 737 Max. 

The FAA itself has faced scrutiny for its oversight of Boeing. A report from the Department of Transportation's Office of the Inspector General in October found the agency's checks were insufficient.

Exodus of Boeing executives

In March, Boeing announced a leadership shake-up.

CEO Dan Calhoun said he would step down. Stan Deal, the CEO of the company's commercial airplanes division, said he would retire. In the same announcement, board chair Larry Kellner announced his plan not to seek reelection.

Stephanie Pope, the company's COO, was promoted to replace Deal shortly after his departure. At the end of July, Kelly Ortberg was named the company's new CEO.

Ted Colbert, who headed Boeing's defense, space, and security division, became the first prominent executive to leave the company after Ortberg took over. Colbert's departure was announced in September.

Stranded astronauts

The aerospace company faced another high-profile problem in June when NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams traveled to the International Space Station on Boeing's CST-100 Starliner spaceship. It marked the first time Boeing flew astronauts to space.

The astronauts left Earth on June 5 and were supposed to return after eight days, but issues with Starliner's thrusters and helium leaks caused delays. NASA and Boeing began troubleshooting the problems to bring Wilmore and Williams back home. However, in late July, the two astronauts were still stuck at the International Space Station.

NASA's Commercial Crew Program manager, Steve Stich, said in a press briefing that month that Elon Musk's SpaceX could bring home the astronauts if needed. After working with Boeing to determine whether the two astronauts could safely return to Earth on Starliner, NASA announced in August that it chose SpaceX to do the job instead.

"Spaceflight is risky," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said during a press conference. "Even at its safest. Even at its most routine. A test flight, by nature, is neither safe nor routine. So, the decision to keep Butch and Suni aboard the International Space Station, and bring the Boeing Starliner home un-crewed, is a result of a commitment to safety."

The decision was a major blow to Boeing, which spent $4.2 billion developing Starliner. Wilmore and Williams' flight was the final step Boeing needed to clear for NASA to certify Starliner for human spaceflight. It highlighted just how far Boeing lags behind its competitor, SpaceX.

Wilmore and Williams are now expected to return to Earth in 2025 on SpaceX's Crew Dragon spaceship, which launched for the International Space Station in September. The astronauts were initially set to return home in February, but NASA announced they would be delayed until March as SpaceX readies its spaceship.

Union strike

Thousands of unionized Boeing employees walked out in September after contract negotiations broke down.

The strike began despite a promising pay package proposal, which would have raised wages by more than 25% over the contract period for more than 32,000 employees in the Pacific Northwest.

Ultimately, union workers denied the proposal and voted to initiate a strike, which is costing the company about $50 million a day.

Negotiations stalled, with both sides filing National Labor Relations Board violations accusing the other of negotiating in bad faith.

Boeing and union leaders reached a tentative deal on October 19 that included a 35% general wage increase spread over four years and a one-time ratification bonus of $7,000.

However, striking Boeing employees rejected the deal on October 24.

"After 10 years of sacrifice, we still have ground to make up. We hope to resume negotiations promptly," the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers said on X.

The 53-day strike ended in early November when workers approved a new contract.

Layoffs

Boeing began furloughs of white-collar workers in mid-September after the strike began. Select employees were required to take one week off every four weeks on a rolling basis.

Ortberg, in a staff memo, also announced that executive leadership would take a "commensurate pay reduction for the duration of the strike," though details of the pay reduction remain unclear.

Layoffs began several weeks later. In mid-October, Boeing announced plans to lay off about 10% of its 170,000-member workforce.

In a memo to employees, Ortberg said Boeing was in a "difficult position" and that "restoring our company requires tough decisions."

The company also delayed production of its 777X twin-engine jet and discontinued production of its 767 cargo plane, the memo noted.

Production delays with the Boeing 777X plane

The experimental 777X is Boeing's newest widebody plane, banking 481 orders from more than a dozen global carriers even though regulators have not yet approved it to fly passengers.

But the aircraft has been riddled with production problems — like supply chain issues, design troubles, and now the ongoing strike — which have already put it five years behind schedule and set Boeing back $1.5 billion.

That hole will likely deepen with the latest entry delay to 2026, further eroding the industry's trust in Boeing's 777X program. It could also push carriers to choose Boeing's European rival Airbus and its already-in-service Airbus A350.

The aircraft is still uncertified but started certification flight testing in July. Testing was halted in August due to a problem with a key part that connects the engine to the aircraft, CNBC reported.

Production troubles with Boeing's 737 MAX aircraft

The FAA announced in January that it would not grant any production expansions of Boeing's MAX aircraft, including the 737 MAX 9, following the emergency on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282.

"The Jan. 5 Boeing 737-9 MAX incident must never happen again," the FAA said in a press release said.

FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said Boeing would not be cleared to expand production or add additional production lines for the 737 MAX "until we are satisfied that the quality control issues uncovered during this process are resolved," according to the press release.

Boeing held a three-hour meeting with the FAA in June to address safety and quality concerns. Afterward, Whitaker spoke at a press conference, where he told a reporter that expanding production of 737 MAX planes was still up in the air.

The FAA told Business Insider, "This is about systemic change, and there's a lot of work to be done. Boeing must meet milestones, and the timing of our decisions will be driven by their ability to do so."

The agency added: "Boeing has delivered a roadmap to change its safety culture, and the FAA will make sure Boeing implements the changes they have outlined. We will not approve production increases beyond the current cap until we're satisfied they've followed through on implementing corrective actions and transforming their safety culture."

Boeing restarted production of the 737 Max in December following the strike's conclusion.

Whistleblowers report problems at Boeing

Sam Salehpour, a Boeing engineer, testified at an April Senate hearing that the company ignored his reports on safety concerns, that his boss retaliated against him, and that he received threats against his physical safety.

The Senate subcommittee investigating Boeing's safety and quality practices released a 204-page report in June. The report included accounts from several whistleblowers.

Sam Mohawk, a Boeing quality assurance inspector, said the company lost track of hundreds of bad 737 parts and instructed employees to conceal improperly stored plane parts from FAA inspectors.

Another whistleblower, Richard Cuevas, wrote in a June complaint to the FAA that holes were being incorrectly drilled on Boeing's 787 Dreamliner planes.

Money woes

In a sign of how Boeing's problems have hurt its bottom line, the company said in a regulatory filing to the SEC in October that it had entered a $10 billion credit agreement with four major banks: JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and Citibank.

The company also filed a prospectus saying it might sell up to $25 billion in securities.

"These are two prudent steps to support the company's access to liquidity," Boeing said in a statement.

While workers were on strike, Bank of America analysts estimated that the work stoppage cost Boeing $50 million a day.

To save money, Ortberg, the company's CEO, instructed top executives to stop flying private jets and instead fly economy on commercial flights.

• Elon Musk has sparked backlash in Germany after calling for the chancellor to resign and backing the AfD.
• The German health minister said Musk "should not interfere in our politics."
• It comes as right-wing leaders in Europe seize on an attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany.

Elon Musk has stirred controversy in Germany after calling Chancellor Olaf Scholz an "incompetent fool" and backing the country's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

In a post on X, Musk first reshared a video by right-wing influencer Naomi Seibt in which she criticizes Friedrich Merz, one of the leading candidates to become Germany's next chancellor.

"Only the AfD can save Germany," Musk, who is the richest person in the world, wrote alongside the post.

Musk then weighed in on news of an attack on Friday on a Christmas market in the eastern German city of Magdeburg that killed at least five people.

Musk reshared a post purportedly showing an image of the suspect that said the attack was a "DIRECT RESULT of mass unchecked immigration."

"Scholz should resign immediately. Incompetent fool," Musk added in a separate post.

Leading right-wing figures across Europe have seized on the incident to promote anti-immigrant rhetoric and call for tighter border controls.

Musk's comments, which come just two months before Germany is set to hold a snap federal election, have sparked backlash in the country.

Scholz appeared to respond indirectly at a press conference in Berlin, saying, "We have freedom of speech here. That also applies to multimillionaires. Freedom of speech also means that you're able to say things that aren't right and do not contain good political advice," per the Guardian.

Karl Lauterbach, the German health minister, said on X that Musk "should not interfere in our politics, adding that "his platform profits from hate and incitement and radicalizes people."

The AfD party was established in 2013 as an anti-euro party, but it has since focused more on immigration and has been seen as increasingly far-right.

Musk, however, has previously questioned how far-right the party's policies are.

In a post on X in June, he wrote:"Why is there such a negative reaction from some about AfD?"

"They keep saying "far right", but the policies of AfD that I've read about don't sound extremist. Maybe I'm missing something," he added.

The Tesla CEO has shown growing support for right-wing leaders, including Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Nigel Farage, leader of the UK's Reform Party.

Earlier this week, Farage boasted that Musk was "right behind" him and hinted that the tech mogul might financially back his party.

• Elon Musk has had a big year with Tesla and SpaceX soaring in value, supercharging his net worth.
• He helped Donald Trump win reelection and intends to transform the US government in 2025.
• Scroll down for seven charts showing how Musk's 2024 played out.

Elon Musk has had a year for the record books.

His businesses have taken off, with Tesla, SpaceX, xAI, and Neuralink all touching new valuation highs. Their success has boosted Musk's net worth to above $450 billion for the first time, putting him over $200 billion ahead of the world's second-richest person, Amazon's Jeff Bezos.

Musk has also become a power player in US politics after wielding his cash and clout to help win Donald Trump a second term in office. As one of the president-elect's closest advisors, he's now gearing up to overhaul the US government.

The situation seems worse at X, formerly Twitter, after Musk's $44 billion takeover and reshaping of the platform sparked an advertiser exodus.

Take a look at Musk's 2024 in charts (all data is accurate as of Friday, December 20):

1. Charging ahead

Tesla shares have shot up as much as 85% this year, driving the electric vehicle maker's market value above $1.4 trillion for the first time. They've since retreated but continue to trade near record levels.

The automaker has benefited from market buzz around artificial intelligence — which it's harnessing to develop self-driving cars and humanoid robots — plus a robust US economy and the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates.

Investors are also betting that Musk's businesses will benefit from his close ties to Trump, which could translate into less stringent regulations, government subsidies, tariff exemptions, and more.

2. Reaching for the stars

SpaceX's valuation nearly doubled from $180 billion at the end of last year to $350 billion this month, based on the price paid by the company and its backers for employee shares in its latest tender offer.

Musk's rocket, spacecraft, and satellite communications company made several technological breakthroughs this year. For example, it plucked the first-stage booster of its new Starship out of the air using a massive pair of mechanical "chopsticks" in October.

3. Shifting fortunes

Musk's net worth slumped in the spring as Tesla stock tumbled, dropping below $170 billion at its nadir.

But it rebounded by over $300 billion to touch an unprecedented $486 billion on December 17, as Tesla hit fresh highs and SpaceX notched a $350 billion valuation.

4. Rise of the robots

Musk's artificial intelligence company, xAI, was only founded in July 2023.

Yet it notched a post-money valuation of $24 billion in May following its Series B funding round. That rose to $50 billion in November, reports say, meaning the maker of the Grok chatbot is worth roughly as much as Monster Beverage.

5. X marks the drop

It remains tricky to gauge the health of X, the social media company formerly known as Twitter that Musk took private in 2022. One way is to use Fidelity's monthly estimates of the value of its stake in the business.

The mutual fund giant's figures imply that X's valuation has crashed since Musk's purchase. The tech billionaire laid off a large part of the company's workforce and relaxed content moderation in support of greater free speech, triggering an advertiser exodus that hammered the company's revenues.

Regardless, Musk recently posted on X that the platform has roughly 1 billion active users, although around 40% of them only log on during important world events.

6. Trump train

Musk was one of the biggest spenders in the US presidential election, deploying over $270 million to back Trump's race for president, run ads against Democrats, and promote conservative viewpoints.

His starring role in Trump's victory and emergence as one of the president-elect's closest advisors and a co-chief of the new Department of Government Efficiency suggests that his investment in the election has paid off.

7. Building brainpower

Neuralink, Musk's neurotechnology company, was valued at $8 billion this summer, up from about $2 billion three years earlier.

The developer of brain-computer interfaces wants to allow people with quadriplegia to control computers with their thoughts. Musk released footage this spring of the first patient to receive one of its brain implants.

How did Elon Musk go from being an Obama supporter to a self-described "dark MAGA" Trump ally? Here's a look at the relationship between two billionaires ahead of the second Trump presidency.

If you want to watch the next two FIFA Women’s World Cups in the US, you’ll need a Netflix subscription.

FIFA confirmed the news today, marking an unexpected change for the sports event, which has historically played on free-to-air broadcast channels. The shift to a streaming platform inevitably makes it more costly and hurts viewer accessibility, while likely injecting FIFA with a lot of cash.

Netflix and FIFA haven’t said how much Netflix is paying for exclusive airing rights. But Netflix and other streaming services have been paying out hefty, sometimes record-setting sums to air live sporting events as the company seeks to earn more revenue from commercials and draw more viewers. Netflix, for example, paid $5 billion to swipe the World Wrestling Entertainment’s weekly RAW program from the USA cable network for 10 years, starting next month.

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• SpaceX employees worked grueling hours and gritty conditions in the company's early days.
• Elon Musk offered workers SpaceX stock options to poach top talent and keep them motivated.
• One expert said that for stocks to work, companies have to give employees chances to cash in.

Working at SpaceX in the company's earliest days was intense, but it may pay off for some hires.

Tough working conditions might tank some businesses, but not SpaceX. On December 11, Bloomberg reported that the Elon Musk-founded company was valued at $350 billion, making it the most valuable private startup worldwide.

The value comes after SpaceX and some of its approved investors struck a deal to buy up to $1.25 billion of employees' shares, offering $185 a share. Therein lies a partial key to SpaceX's overwhelming success.

Like many tech startups, SpaceX offered its early employees stock options as a financial incentive to keep them invested in the company's success — even when they were exposed to Musk's strict standards, his bouts of shouting when things went wrong, and his near-impossible timelines, space journalist Eric Berger reported.

In his new book "Reentry," Berger shares current and former employees' accounts of working 36-hour days, sleeping under their desks, urinating in buckets, dodging rattlesnakes, and injuring themselves on the job.

Stock options are a toss-up. They don't always end up being valuable. SpaceX was proving its value early, though.

"Even as far back as 2010, you could see that that had real value if you stayed there," Berger told Business Insider.

How equity pushes employees

Offering stock options is a common strategy, especially for early-stage companies that don't have much cash for salaries, said Jorge Martin, head of the employee-equity plan provider North American branch of JP Morgan Workplace Solutions.

"When they are working these grinding hours, when they are traveling all over the world, when they're under high pressure," Martin said, "then all of that is worth it when you have an equity grant that can grow as the company grows and as the company succeeds."

Martin said he's occasionally seen startup employees become millionaires off their equity.

The promise of those stock options gave SpaceX a competitive edge in recruiting top engineering talent. In the scramble for new hires fresh out of college in the 2010s, SpaceX, Berger said, often competed with Blue Origin, a similarly ambitious rocket company founded by Jeff Bezos.

"They would poach people back and forth," Berger said.

Cashing in on company equity

Workers can turn shares into cash when a company gets sold or goes public — which SpaceX has not done — or when it does a "tender offer," allowing employees to sell their shares to other investors.

Blue Origin has a stock ownership program too, Berger said, but it's "considered virtually worthless because Bezos is probably never going to sell a significant chunk of the company. So those shares can never really be sold."

SpaceX, meanwhile, has given its employees multiple opportunities to cash in on their shares, including through the deal it struck this month.

Musk's Mars vision helped

SpaceX offered some of its early employees more than stock. Some truly believed in Musk's plans to build a human settlement on Mars.

Unlike a regimented job at NASA or a legacy aerospace corporation, a gig at SpaceX meant working hands-on with multiple ambitious rockets, spaceships, or engines — back to back or simultaneously.

"You're going to work super hard, but you're also going to get to work on cutting-edge stuff, stuff that's actually going to fly," Berger said. "After a few years there with that on your résumé, you can basically write your ticket anywhere in the industry you want to go."

For some employees, Berger found, the stock was icing on the cake.

SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment.

• RFK Jr. was spotted wearing jeans and hiking boots in one of America's most exclusive gyms.
• His unusual workout gear reflects the contradictory nature of his persona and views, historians said.
• Showcasing his fitness at 70 helps to signal that his controversial views on health are legitimate.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wants you to know that he's healthy, rugged, and has an Equinox membership.

Donald Trump's pick for secretary of Health and Human Services was spotted working out at the elite gym in Manhattan's swanky Hudson Yards wearing jeans and hiking boots, Page Six reported Sunday.

The 60,000-square-foot fitness complex contains both a saltwater lap pool and a heated outdoor pool, a sundeck, a restaurant, Pilates studios, and saunas. Membership costs $405 a month.

We can't know for sure why Kennedy chose that outfit, but consciously or not, it sends a certain message. The combination of denim and sturdy outdoor footwear against the backdrop of a luxury gym encapsulates his "insider-outsider vibe," which helps him to appeal to his varied audience, historians told Business Insider.

Many find it curious that Kennedy is aligned with discredited causes such as the link between the MMR vaccine and autism, while his assessment of certain health issues, such as the link between chronic disease and ultra-processed foods, seems sound. His gym clothing reflects this dichotomy.

Since the COVID pandemic, groups of people with seemingly opposing political stances have converged in unexpected ways. This includes libertarian conspiracy theorists, "crunchy" moms, and "manosphere" figures like Joe Rogan, whose views on some healthcare issues now align, Peter Knight, a professor of American Studies at the University of Manchester, in the UK, said. Kennedy, who is against fluoridated water, has promoted anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, and believes the Food and Drug Administration undermines public health, taps into all of these audiences, he said.

"This is the world that he's been moving in for a long time, and a lot of it is not preplanned, but there is an awareness of appealing to these different kinds of groups that have really come together since the pandemic," Knight said.

The 70-year-old is signaling that his brand of wellness works

Earlier this month, the swole 70-year-old shared a video in which he wore the same jeans-and-boot combo but was shirtless and flexing his muscles in an iconic body-building gym in Venice, California.

Promoting exercise — and showing off his own personal strength — is "absolutely" part of his political identity, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, a history professor at The New School in New York City, said. It implicitly signals "the efficacy of his own unconventional ideas about health."

Other politicians, including Teddy Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Jimmy Carter, used their personal exercise routines to convey their fitness for office, Mehlman Petrzela said.

"But in doing so at the age of 70, and so clearly to show off his looks as much as his health, he is almost painting himself as superhuman, able to transcend the traditional rules of aging," she said of Kennedy.

Sonya Abrego, a design historian specializing in the history of American fashion and an assistant professor at the Parsons School of Design, said the image of Kennedy working out shirtless was reminiscent of a 1980s or '90s action-movie hero.

"Like someone who just sprung into action, ripped off a shirt, and started lifting weights," Abrego said. "I mean, obviously it's showing off the way his body looks as an older person and promoting his ideas about health and diet."

The outfit evokes traditional, rural American masculinity

While jeans are ubiquitous today, they were historically worn by blue-collar workers and they're reminiscent of the American West when worn with cowboy boots and hats, Abrego said.

For someone of Kennedy's generation, jeans and cowboy boots could still be associated with "the kind of rugged masculinity" they exude, she said: "Something of an outlier, something a little bit rebellious, especially someone coming from an elite background that he comes from."

"He's rich and cool and aspirational enough to have access to elite circles, but still sufficiently a man of the people such that he seems out of place there," Mehlman Petrzela said of Kennedy's Equinox visit.

The choice to wear jeans could be read as him positioning himself as "more of an everyman" or possibly a nod to a more rural, traditional American masculinity, Abrego said. The hiking boots also signal his connection to the outdoors and environmental causes.

"He often just dresses like a typical politician in a suit," Mehlman Petrzela said. "So it does feel like an intentional break from how he presents publicly. It also sort of tracks with his unusual and often kind of inconsistent persona and ideals."

Louisiana's health department has been barred from advertising or promoting vaccines for flu, COVID-19, and mpox, according to reporting by NPR, KFF Health News, and New Orleans Public Radio WWNO.

Their investigative report—based on interviews with multiple health department employees who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation—revealed that employees were told of the startling policy change in meetings in October and November and that the policy would be implemented quietly and not put into writing.

Ars Technica has contacted the health department for comment and will update this post with any new information.

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• Ireland's Aer Lingus is the second airline to receive the new Airbus A321XLR.
• The plane opens new long-haul opportunities, including Dublin to Indianapolis and Nashville.
• Other airlines, including Iberia, United, Qantas, and American are also planning new routes.

The Airbus A321XLR is the European planemaker's latest narrow-body jet, and it's already changing how people fly long-haul.

On Thursday, Ireland's Aer Lingus became the second airline to receive the A321XLR, with Airbus delivering two of the carrier's six that are on order.

Spanish flag carrier Iberia became the plane's first operator in November.

The jet's extra-long-haul capabilities mean Aer Lingus can now operate flights deeper into the US. Two new routes are already scheduled: Flights between Dublin and Nashville will begin in April, and flights between Dublin and Indianapolis will launch in May.

Iberia and Aer Lingus are just the beginning for Airbus's new plane, which has tallied up more than 550 global orders.

American Airlines, Australian flag carrier Qantas, and Hungarian budget carrier Wizz Air all expect to receive the jet next year, followed by United Airlines in early 2026.

And all are expected to launch never-before-flown narrow-body routes across oceans and continents.

Airbus' new A321XLR jet is set to open new route options

The A321XLR is uniquely equipped for long-haul flying, thanks to an extra rear center fuel tank that helps the narrow-body aircraft fly up to 5,400 miles, or 11 hours, nonstop.

That's about 800 miles farther than its Airbus A321LR predecessor. That opens new routes to places previously unreachable with older narrowbodies — or that were unprofitable with a widebody.

Iberia plans to begin a new service using the A321XLR between Madrid and Washington Dulles on January 15. Wizz Air also plans to launch A321XLR routes between London and Saudi Arabia and Milan and Abu Dhabi in 2025.

In March, American Airlines' managing director of global network planning, Jason Reisinger, said the A321XLR was desirable because it would let the airline serve "routes that cannot support a 787 but where we still have a nice onboard product."

American has since said it plans to launch the A321XLRs on transcontinental routes now served by its A321T.

And the airline's senior vice president of network planning, Brian Znotins, told The Points Guy in November that it plans to also fly its A321XLR fleet to Europe and possibly South America.

Qantas plans to use the A321XLR to fly farther into Asia and the Pacific.

United Airlines previously told Business Insider that the A321XLR would replace its aging Boeing 757s and open new routes to places like Northern Italy and West Africa.

Icelandair is also using the A321XLR to replace the 757 and fly farther into North America and Europe from 2029. Boeing never built another version of the popular narrow-body, which ceased production in 2004.

The A321XLR will have varying cabin experiences

Customers can expect varying cabin experiences on board these new versatile single-aisle planes.

Iberia offers lie-flat business class on its A321XLRs, which is typical of what customers find on long-haul widebody flights.

Aer Lingus will also have lie-flat business class seats similar to what it already flies on its A321LRs, but some rows won't have direct aisle access.

American plans to install its new Flagship suites on its A321XLRs, while United is also planning a lie-flat business cabin. Qantas will have large reclining loungers in business class.

Wizz will have the least posh cabin. Its no-frills A321XLRs will have cramped seats, no in-flight entertainment, and no freebies like snacks and water.

Its CEO said the experience is something passengers will have to "suffer" through for seven hours for the cheap ticket.

• The holiday season is incomplete for many people without holiday movies.
• This year, Netflix is streaming a wide range of Christmas classics and original movies.
• Business Insider has rounded up what critics say are the best and worst Christmas movies on Netflix.

It is the time of year when many turn to Christmas and holiday movies to get them through the winter.

Netflix has a bunch of Christmas films available, many of which are originals.

Here are six movies to watch this holiday season — and six to consider skipping.

"Klaus" is one of the most recently made movies to be considered a Christmas classic.

Summary: As Norway's worst postal student, Jesper (Jason Schwartzman) is exiled to Smeerensburg and instructed to deliver 6,000 letters within a year. Through befriending a carpenter named Klaus (J.K. Simmons) and a teacher named Alva (Rashida Jones), Jesper is able to bring joy back to the town.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%

Why you should watch it: Critics praised the beautiful animation and hopeful narrative.

"Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey" is fun for the whole family.

Summary: In this magical musical, toymaker Jeronicus Jangle (Forest Whitaker) teams up with his granddaughter Journey (Madalen Mills) to recover an invention stolen from him long ago and restore his legacy.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%

Why you should watch it: Critics said the film is creative and fun for adults and kids alike. If you love musicals and the magic of Christmas, "Jingle Jangle" is fun to watch.

The likable cast of "Let It Snow" elevates a cliched story.

Summary: "Let It Snow" is a holiday rom-com about a group of young people in a small town in Illinois who are forced together by a snowstorm.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 85%

Why you should watch it: "Let It Snow" is more diverse than the typical Christmas rom-com, and critics praised the charming young cast.

"White Christmas" is a fun Christmas musical.

Summary: The 1954 musical follows two former soldiers-turned-performers as they meet a beautiful sister singing duo. The two groups must work together to save the lodge owned by the soldiers' former commander.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 77%

Why you should watch it: Critics said "White Christmas" is warm and cozy. Perfect for a winter afternoon.

"Hot Frosty" is not as bad as it sounds.

Summary: Lacey Chabert stars as Kathy, a grieving widow who accidentally brings a snowman to life with a magic scarf. When she takes the responsibility of looking after the living snowman (Dustin Milligan), she gains a new perspective on life.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 79%

Why you should watch it: On the surface, "Hot Frosty" seems like a silly film about a hot snowman, but it's also the perfect self-aware cozy movie to watch during the holidays.

"Carry-on" is the new "Die Hard."

Summary: Taron Egerton stars as a young, apathetic TSA agent who is blackmailed by a mysterious traveler (Jason Bateman) into allowing a mysterious package through security checks. The agent instead tries to stop the package from reaching its destination while protecting his loved ones.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 84%

Why you should watch it: This is the closest thing to "Die Hard" on Netflix's catalog. A fun, electrifying thriller set on Christmas Eve, where one man takes on a team of highly trained terrorists.

The sequels to "The Princess Switch" are not as good as the original.

Summary: In the "Princess Switch" franchise, Vanessa Hudgens plays numerous lookalikes who bump into each other during the Christmas season in the kingdom of Belgravia. Chaos ensues.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 53% - 56%

Why you should skip it: While the first "Princess Switch" was received reasonably well, the sequels — "The Princess Switch: Switched Again" and "The Princess Switch 3: Romancing the Star" — overdid it with the switching.

The sequels to "A Christmas Prince" are also disappointing.

Summary: This franchise stars Rose McIver as a magazine journalist who falls for a prince while trying to write an exposé about him.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 36% - 50%

Why you should skip it: "A Christmas Prince" was fun, but sequels "A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding" and "A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby" made this royal love story outstay its welcome.

Critics slammed the "Holidate" for being bland.

Summary: Sloane (Emma Roberts) and Jackson (Luke Bracey) are sick of bad dates and meddling family members. When they have a chance encounter, they decide to pretend to be a couple for the holidays. The arrangement works until they start to grow feelings for each other.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 45%

Why you should skip it: Roberts and Bracey have great chemistry, but critics thought the film was mediocre.

"A Bad Moms Christmas" was another poor Christmas sequel.

Summary: In the Christmassy sequel to "Bad Moms," Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, and Kathryn Hahn return as three mothers living life to the fullest, defying social expectations. This time, they are rebelling against their mothers, who are making the holidays difficult.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 32%

Why you should skip it: Critics said the sequel was not as funny or charming as the original "Bad Moms." "A Bad Moms Christmas" is fun to watch once, but it won't become a Christmas classic.

"Our Little Secret," Lindsay Lohan's third holiday movie, disappointed critics.

Summary: Ian Harding and Lindsay Lohan team up as two exes forced to be nice to each other at a family Christmas gathering when they discover their new lovers are siblings.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 38%

Why you should skip it: Lindsay Lohan's Netflix holiday movies are divisive: you either love how bad they are or are completely bored by them. Critics said "Our Little Secret" is better than Lohan's other two movies but still formulaic, and the two lead stars have poor chemistry.

Critics said "Best. Christmas. Ever!" was not the best Christmas movie.

Summary: Charlotte (Heather Graham) is envious of her old college friend Jackie (Brandy Norwood), who sends a Christmas letter every year about her family's accomplishments. When Charlotte and her family get stuck at Jackie's house for Christmas, Charlotte attempts to expose Jackie for lying about her perfect life.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 40%

Why you should skip it: Critics were not enthused by this film, with most saying that the story was poor and did not make much sense.

• Bernie Sanders says Elon Musk is using his wealth and political clout to undermine US democracy.
• Musk lambasted a government funding deal and said a shutdown would be the Democrats' fault.
• "Are Republicans beholden to the American people? Or President Musk?" Sanders asked on X.

Elon Musk is wielding his immense wealth and political power to pressure US lawmakers, shifting America from democracy to oligarchy, Sen. Bernie Sanders says.

In two recent X posts, the Vermont senator called out Musk's influence over Republicans and his warnings to legislators if they don't vote the way he wants.

"The US Congress this week came to an agreement to fund our government," he wrote late Wednesday. "Elon Musk, who became $200 BILLION richer since Trump was elected, objected. Are Republicans beholden to the American people? Or President Musk? This is oligarchy at work."

"Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, is threatening to unseat elected officials if they do not follow his orders to shut down the government during the holidays," he said in a Thursday post. "Are we still a democracy or have we already moved to oligarchy and authoritarianism?"

Musk blasted the funding bill in question as bloated and overcomplicated and wrote on X that "any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!"

He threw his weight behind Republicans' alternative bill, hailing it as cleaner and simpler. Moreover, he posted that it would be the Democratic Party's fault if an agreement isn't reached and the government shuts down.

Both Trump's team and Musk have pushed back against the idea that he's pulling Republicans' strings. Musk has said he's only bringing things to the attention of his followers, and they're free to voice their support.

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO's net worth hit a record $486 billion on Tuesday, up $257 billion from the start of the year — a figure that exceeds the fortune of the world's second-richest man, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Tesla stock has slid since then, but Musk was still worth $455 billion at Thursday's close.

As Sanders wrote, Musk's wealth surged after President Trump's election victory as Tesla stock rode a broader market rally, and investors wagered the automaker would benefit from Musk's close ties to the White House. Additionally, SpaceX was valued at a record $350 billion this month, boosting the worth of Musk's stake in the rocket company.

Sanders has called out Musk several times in his criticisms of wealth inequality, which often single out billionaires for having too much influence and paying too little in taxes.

"Never before in American history have so few billionaires, so few people had so much wealth and so much power," he said in a clip from "Meet the Press" that he recently shared on X.

"We can't go around the world saying, 'Oh well, you know in Russia, Putin has an oligarchy," Sanders continued. "Well, we've got an oligarchy here, too."

The progressive lawmaker has also clashed with Musk's Big Tech peers. Sanders recently told Bill Gates that he was a "very innovative guy" who deserved to be financially rewarded for his contributions to society as Microsoft's cofounder — but not to the tune of billions of dollars.

"How much do you deserve? Can you make it on a billion? Think you could feed the family? Probably. Pay the rent? Maybe," Sanders quipped.

In response to Sanders saying billionaires shouldn't exist in 2019, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, now the world's third-richest person, agreed that "some of the wealth that can be accumulated is unreasonable."

• FedEx will spin off its freight business into a new publicly traded company.
• FedEx Freight will separate from FedEx over the next 18 months.
• Express delivery services have seen slowing demand for their services.

FedEx is spinning off its freight arm into a new publicly traded company.

Called FedEx Freight, the new company will handle large cargo, while FedEx will continue to handle the parcel shipping business that shoppers might be more familiar with as their holiday packages arrive.

The separation will happen over the next 18 months, FedEx said in a statement on Thursday. Shares of FedEx jumped about 9% in after-hours trading.

"Through this process, we will unlock value for our Freight business and position FedEx to create even greater value for stockholders," CEO Raj Subramaniam said in the statement.

FedEx also cut its profit estimates for its 2025 fiscal year in earnings released on Thursday and cited a "challenging demand environment." It said it had seen lower-than-expected FedEx Freight revenue and profit as "sustained weakness in US industrial production continued to pressure less-than-truckload industry demand."

The spinoff will allow FedEx to focus more on the parcel shipping market, it said in its statement.

Bloomberg reported in October that the company, along with rival UPS, has faced less demand this year for next-day shipping as many customers look to save money with slower options.

For months, popular fighting game YouTubers have been under attack. Even the seemingly most cautious among them have been duped by sophisticated phishing attacks that hack their accounts to push cryptocurrency scams by convincingly appearing to offer legitimate sponsorships from established brands.

These scams often start with bad actors seemingly taking over verified accounts on X (formerly Twitter) with substantial followings and then using them to impersonate marketing managers at real brands who can be easily found on LinkedIn.

The fake X accounts go to great lengths to appear legitimate. They link to brands' actual websites and populate feeds with histories seemingly spanning decades by re-posting brands' authentic posts.

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