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Quest Means Business

Federal Reserve Chair Warns The U.S. May Need New Stimulus; E.U. Plans Summer Tourism Season Despite Looming Virus Threat; Lamborghini Reopens Northern Italian Factory. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired May 13, 2020 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:01]

RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR, QUEST MEANS BUSINESS: Sixty minutes of trading left on Wall Street before the closing bell and we're looking at

the third straight day of triple digit losses.

Look at the big board, you can see it is sharply lower. But you know, that's where it goes when there's so much difficult news around, but it's

two and a half percent off, 618 points, the largest losses that we've seen in recent days. And these are the reasons why.

Jerome Powell, Chair of the Fed says there are still major downside risks for the U.S. economy.

Europe more optimistically wants to restart tourism. Portugal's Tourism Minister will be with me on this program.

And the W.H.O. says coronavirus could be with us forever. I'll speak to Johnson and Johnson's -- J&J's Chief Science Officer about the vaccine

when, how and if.

We are live from New York from the roof today. It's a beautiful day. It is Wednesday. It's May the 13th. I'm Richard Quest, and yes, I mean business.

Jerome Powell, the Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, they have a warning today. He said that the shape of any recovery, the length was

uncertain. And Powell said he saw significant downside risks.

He gave a full review of the measures taken by the Fed and by Congress and basically said that more would probably be needed.

The stock market didn't like what it heard. It was down at the open and it's gone further ever since. Now off two and a quarter percent for the

Dow, the broader market as well is lower.

Jerome Powell in a warning that the Fed had probably done its work said the fiscal response, in other words, government, administration, as opposed to

Central Bank's monetary policy that fiscal response was key.

A $3 trillion stimulus package is being put forward by Democrats in Congress and the republicans have already saying that's dead on arrival.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEROME POWELL, U.S. FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN: The recovery may take some time to gather momentum and the passage of time can turn liquidity problems

into solvency problems.

Additional fiscal support could be costly, but worth it if it helps avoid long term damage and leaves us with a stronger recovery.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Policymakers known for fiscal discipline are now supporting spending. Gary Cohn who you heard on this program said the government must

be ready to spend as part of what it takes. And that means medium and long term, getting the fiscal house in order.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GARY COHN, FORMER CHIEF ECONOMIC ADVISER TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: Hopefully, Congress understands that they need to really sit down once and for all and

look at both sides of the equation.

They need to look at the expenditure side of the equation, and really justify how we spend money in this country.

And number two, we need to look at our tax system.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Julia is with me. Julia Chatterley from "First Move." So, let's look, Julia, first of all the Powell testimony before we go to sort of

fiscal policy.

Jerome Powell says more needs to be done and he talks about shape being uncertain. But I got the impression, reading his notes that monetary policy

wasn't going to do it.

JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR, FIRST MOVE: I agree with you, Richard. I think this was as direct a call to action for Congress, as you

will ever see from a Central Bank governor.

He said all the way along, we can lend, we can't spend. The piece that you just presented there showed exactly what he was saying and that the costs

of doing something now financially are lower than the cost of not doing enough in terms of the recovery.

I think it echoes what we heard from Dr. Fauci yesterday as well. The economic recovery is so truly tied to the health crisis and getting on top

of the health crisis at this moment that the fact that we have to do this safely means that we're going to see a slower recovery than we might have

seen ordinarily. That's simply going to take more spending.

And I think that was the message from Jay Powell today. Congress, are you listening?

QUEST: Now, you've always said, when the first slot came along at $1 trillion, or $2 trillion, it wasn't going to be enough. Now $3 trillion has

been spent.

They're looking at another $3 trillion. I guess, the argument goes, it's just really about the price. We know more is coming, it's just how much.

Let's get arguing.

CHATTERLEY: Richard, if you remember, I said $4 trillion to $5 trillion, simply because I looked at the total output of the U.S. economy and I

sliced it into four pieces, and said, if this is going to be a three-month approximately lock down and trying to stem a recovery, we have to be

talking around $4 trillion to $5 trillion.

So, I think $3 trillion is a push. I think probably at least another tranche of $1 trillion, perhaps another tranche of $1 trillion.

But I agree with what Gary Cohn was saying in many ways that we have to look at what the gaps are here and fill them. We have to look at what

worked and what didn't work.

[15:05:14]

CHATTERLEY: The very difference between the United States and Europe in the way that we're now paying workers in the United States not to work

versus retaining them in businesses in countries like the U.K. and in Germany, for example, this difference is crucial, and it's going to become

more so as we see recovery take hold.

But I think that Jay Powell made today as well was that this crisis is hitting the lowest income families hardest. They also work in jobs that

will be the last to come back. More has to be done to protect those people, especially.

QUEST: Not tonight, but there's plenty of other occasions, Julia. Don't think you're getting away from discussing deficits and austerity. And at

what point.

I know. I know you're going to argue, but I'll say now is not the time and I'll grant you, but I put it to you. The prosecution brought it to you,

ma'am that there will be a time.

CHATTERLEY: The otter is listening and we'll come back in 2021, my friend, not this year, probably not the next actually. Hammer. I'm missing a

hammer.

QUEST: All right, well, you'll be you'll be too busy on holiday perhaps or maybe possibly because tonight, Europe is racing to save what it can of a

European summer season.

The E.U. has unveiled its much awaited travel plan. It's a blueprint, if you like that will allow countries, resorts, and destinations to decide

when and if it is safe to reopen. Do they meet the necessary criteria that the EC has decided it can do?

Now, there are protocols for essentially distance travel. There's protocols for cross border contact tracing, apps and the like. Travel bubbles perhaps

within countries or between countries say Germany and Austria, where infection rate is low.

IATA, that's the aviation group. We have them frequently on the program, no recovery until 2023. That bears out what that Akbar Al Baker was saying on

this program the other night.

Forecast alone right the way through to 2025 and TUI which is Europe's and the world's biggest travel operator says it may lay off 8,000 staff.

The E.U. Transport Commissioner told us earlier, you travel at your own risk.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADINA IOANA VALEAN, EUROPEAN TRANSPORT COMMISSIONER: Well as I said, it is a risk you take so no one can actually give you a hundred percent guarantee

and we are not labeling necessarily that this is a hundred percent safe.

But of course, there are no brainers. I mean, you can imagine that all security safety from healthy perspective measures to be taken into a hotel.

I don't know, disinfection, distancing, providing services in a distance, protecting the personnel.

All of these are there and they can be observed easily. But as I said, with the risk to be taken in the end by the traveler himself, because no one can

guarantee.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Europe of course is the world's number one tourist destination. Ten percent. That's a minimum, I think. I think, I will say the number is

higher. But traditionally people say 10 percent of GDP is tourism. I think it's probably near 12 to 13 percent.

Twenty percent of jobs though in countries like Greece, Hungary, Cyprus, and 22 percent of jobs in Portugal. Now, of course, it is mostly the lower

paid and the immigrants.

The message from Portugal this year is don't cancel, postpone.

Rita Marques is Portuguese Tourism Minister. The Minister is with me now. Let's deal first of all, with the EC rules and documents.

Now, you'd all wanted a level playing field that charted a way forward. In your view, does this go far enough to ensure you all know who can open and

who cannot?

RITA MARQUES, PORTUGUESE STATE SECRETARY OF TOURISM: Hello, Richard, thank you. Thank you so much for very kind invitation to join the program.

And yes, I believe you know, that when tourists travel across Europe, they should know that sanitary security is protected within the same quality

everywhere.

So, I believe that the recommendations of the E.U. at this point are reasonable and meets our expectations.

I think it's a question of both fair competition and at the same time, you know, to give the conditions for European member states to work and to

foster attractive tourist destinations like we have in Portugal.

QUEST: What do you realistically and directly -- what do you expect the numbers will be this year vis-a-vis last year? How much down do you think

you're going to be?

[15:10:11]

MARQUES: Unfortunately, I think the numbers will be much lower than the last year. So, we are at this point estimating that we will have a drop of

50 percent.

But you know, we are working as we could open our doors tomorrow. So, we believe that 2021 will be, you know, a good year again, and the U.K., of

course, it's a good market for us as well as Spain, U.S., Canada, Brazil, so we are working as we could open the doors tomorrow.

QUEST: And in terms of the visitors, you're getting. Minister, I'm starting to think there'll be a lot of cross border travel by car rather

than by air, even though Ryanair says it is restarting 40 percent of its routes et cetera, et cetera.

I think that many people will want to visit across the border by motor vehicle. Do you think that's likely for your area?

MARQUES: Yes, I think so. I think, you know, people will like to travel in the future. So we would like to pick up the car and cross the borders,

using also the rail system in Europe.

But again, I think, you know, transports by air will be also very important. So, that's why I believe that this very new recommendations from

E.U. are very positive because it allows a coordinated sanitary rules approach -- a coordinated approach in airports and so it's very important

for all of us.

QUEST: Yes, but with respect -- a lot of that stuff about in airports in hotels, a lot of it is commonsense and part of public health anyway.

Surely, the really important bit is the bit that talks about the epidemiological part where you go, you know, only people from similar

countries have similar status should be traveling to each other.

That surely negates much of what you can do. You really don't want people from high areas going to visit lower areas.

MARQUES: Yes, absolutely. Yes, we will try to have these secure corridors that allow tourists to travel across Europe that have a kind of, you know,

the same level of response as far as this virus is concerned.

And yes, we will try to get that and I think, you know, we will do our best in order to maintain this low level of infection that has been achieved

here in Portugal.

As you can imagine, here in Portugal people promptly obeyed confining measures and this has helped Portugal to manage its coronavirus outbreak in

a very reasonable way.

And so the there was a low rate of coronavirus infections and when compared especially with neighboring countries.

QUEST: Minister, good to have you with us. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thank you.

The Minister was talking there about travel corridors, otherwise known as travel bubbles that will allow people to go from one country to another

that has the same level if you like of epidemiological status.

They are countries with the low case numbers, the so-called Smart Nine. They're looking to restart travel with each other and that would restart

tourism economies.

Alan Joyce is the CEO of Qantas. Besides domestic travel within Australia, he is also focusing on these so-called travel corridors, for example,

between Australia and New Zealand.

Alan Joyce, joined me on the line yesterday from Sydney.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALAN JOYCE, CEO, QANTAS AIRWAYS: We are hopeful to see domestic flight state by state maybe and maybe uniform to take place over the next few

months. There's talk that maybe that could be as early as July, and then we would start seeing some international following soon after that.

And it would be done with a bubble by bubble. The way -- New Zealand have done a fantastic job also. The first concept is travel between Australia

and New Zealand will happen now. Now, that's a huge market.

The second largest tourism into Australia is from New Zealand. The largest number of tourists that we see are from Australia.

So, if those markets opened up for Qantas, that would be quite a significant amount of our network.

QUEST: Realistically, what data do you have for being where you think you will get to anything approaching 2019 levels?

JOYCE: We're saying Richard like the Qantas of 2021, the Qantas of 2022 won't be the Qantas of 2019. This is going to take a number of years to

rebuild.

[15:15:10]

JOYCE: What's really good is we've been doing a lot of research of our customers, and a huge proportion of our customers say -- over 90 percent

are saying they want to take a trip out within a year of the restrictions being lifted, but a massive majority of them want to fly domestically,

because they know it's safer with the domestic states.

And we think that market by market, we could rebuild it, but places like the U.K. or places like the U.S. which are very big for us are a long way

off.

QUEST: Your principal competitor is in bankruptcy proceedings. There will be those who say this gives you the opportunity to go off to the races. On

pricing, you have no competitor.

JOYCE: No, what's clearly going to happen is there's a lot of people interested in purchasing Virgin through the bankruptcy processes. So, we

will have competitor.

And either one of the other airlines here in the last few days said that they were going to acquire Jets to compete on the domestic market.

Because one thing that's clear, there will be competition. It's a very open, very competitive market.

But the way I'm seeing it, the way we, as a company are seeing it, our biggest competitor for the next few years is COVID-19.

It's to overcome the inertia created by that and overcoming the impact of the economy created by that. We'll have to stimulate the market. We'll have

to have very low prices out there to get people to travel again. We need to get the tourism industry working again.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: Alan Joyce there of Qantas joining me from Sydney.

Lamborghini has resumed production. Now, for a very fast car it is a slow move towards safety, where safety comes first. After the break, the CEO is

with me.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: Welcome back. QUEST MEANS BUSINESS from the roof. Beautiful spring day here in New York.

In the U.K. dreadful economic numbers to be expected, of course. This is not anything that we weren't looking out for. But GDP -- record fall in GDP

in March down 5.8 percent. Remember that's not seasonally adjusted. They actually do their numbers, Q on Q.

It means the full lockdown only began on March the 23rd and April and May will be even worse.

[15:20:07]

QUEST: Anna Stewart is in London with that, so March was fairly awful, but then the U.K. was later than other European countries, but earlier than the

U.S. and if I think back to the way I was going backwards and forwards from New York and London in mid-March, it's not surprising that the later months

will be worse.

ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: Much worse. I mean, if you consider that contracted by 5.8 percent in March, but only seven working days was the

U.K. under lockdown, it was much later locking down the economy and the nation.

So, the second quarter will be significantly worse. Now, the Bank of England has actually forecasts that it could see contraction of up to 25

percent for the second quarter.

However, last week, it suggested that there could be a full economic rebound by the end of next year.

Now, today, looking at the data, economists are making comparisons with other European countries who are ahead in terms of lockdown and they are

saying that is over optimistic.

They don't see the U.K. economy really recovering until the end of 2022. All of that contingent on how they ease their lockdown, how they get

businesses open again and get people back to work.

As of today, the government has urged people in England who cannot work from home to go back to work if they can practice safe procedures.

We have been seeing factories reopen in recent days, particularly the car industry and they have taken their cue from Europe.

We see many plants opening, but it's not back to any kind of normal and it's a very slow start. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEWART (voice over): Back to work, but it's not back to normal. Masks, hand washing and social distancing have become a part of production lines

across Europe.

Ferrari and Fiat in Italy, Volkswagen in Germany, and now plants are opening in the U.K. -- Aston Martin and Bentley.

The production process has been overhauled. Bentley has introduced 250 new measures to keep workers safe, a process that means they are only making

half the number of cars they normally would.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADRIAN HALLMARK, CEO, BENTLEY: Going down to 50 percent of capacity allows us to slow down the process. Separate people that would normally be working

closer together, as well as we are adding in protection equipment, gangways, gauges, and markers everywhere.

Inspect screens, facemasks, cleaning equipment wherever you can imagine it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEWART (voice over): He says 50 percent capacity isn't feasible long term. A quarter of Bentleys' workers remain on the government's furlough

scheme and some have already been let go.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HALLMARK: Twenty percent of our total workforce are temporary and we've let about a quarter of those go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEWART (voice over): It was a tough environment for carmakers in Europe, even before the pandemic.

Jaguar Land Rover, Daimler and Ford had already announced job cuts. Then under lockdown, car sales took an unprecedented slump.

In April, new car sales in the U.K. fell over 97 percent. It was a similar story across the continent.

Even if these car makers can return to 100 percent production capacity, and car dealerships reopen, the future is uncertain.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEWART (on camera): Will it ever go back to normal?

FABIAN BRANDT, PARTNER, OLIVER WYMAN: It's hard to say. But our research suggests that historically, deep recessions have taken about three years

for an industry to fully recover to a pre-crisis levels, and I think that at the moment, there's no evidence that this time, it's going to be

significantly faster than that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEWART (voice over): Demand may return, but how factories operates may never go back to pre-pandemic norms.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STEWART: Really challenging times for a sector that was really already under pressure and analysts think this could actually just accelerate

around a consolidation and partnerships because once they leave this pandemic, once they try and get back to normal, they have to invest, of

course billions of dollars in autonomous cars, electric vehicles get back to what they were doing beforehand, which was already pretty tricky --

Richard.

QUEST: Anna Stewart, thank you. Let's stay with cars and the Italian automaker Lamborghini has restarted production after a two-month shutdown.

There are obviously, of course, strict work protocols for safety that are in place.

And what's most impressive is that Lamborghini has unveiled a new car with its virtual launch.

Stefano Domenicali is the Chairman and Chief Executive of Lamborghini. He joins me now.

We will deal with a new car in just a second. First of all, how has the reopening gone? I mean, obviously a lot of nerves, a lot of anxiety,

particularly in Italy, on safety questions. So, how have you managed it?

[15:25:02]

STEFANO DOMENICALI, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, LAMBORGHINI: Well, Richard, I have to say that we could see only the eyes of our employees that came back last

week because we are wearing masks on top of the other protection.

But the energy behind that was really great. We see people who wanted to come back to work, back to the place where they belong to be. I think it

was very, very important.

We use these things to prepare the restart of our production line. Now, we use all the distance, we use all of the people that we need to have them

and where we respect the protocols.

So far, we are already at 75 percent of our production, because of course we want to do a slower ramp up in order to get used to the new way of

working.

I really hope that already next week, we can be back to full capacity in terms of production. Of course, with employees with the white collar, we

have the majority still in the home working, but we're going to be closer to full production as soon as we can.

QUEST: That's very impressive, sir, if I may say, 75 percent and then shortly up to 100 percent.

Now, obviously the new car was long in the works. But why did you decide it was appropriate in this day and age and at this time to go ahead with a

virtual launch of the vehicle? Why not wait?

DOMENICALI: Because in this moment of uncertainty, we don't know exactly when we can go back to physical comfort with our products.

And in this moment, Lamborghini is very strong to stay connected with our customer, to stay connected to our fans. We moved from customer-centricity

to customer intimacy, and therefore we want to give new confidence.

That's why we launched the new Hurucan Evo Spyder two-wheel drive, rear- wheel drive with the augmented reality.

We want to give, you know, no energy, because sooner or later, we need to go back and see that we can go back to our normality.

This is also great to show that we are going to be focused for our future and this is a must. This is a need that we need to share with our customer.

The good sign so far that at this moment, you know, we haven't received any order cancellation. We had an incredible year last year. We had an

incredible January and February and that's where we should start thinking for our future.

QUEST: It's very impressive, the augmented reality that you can look at this thing from the garage or the kitchen table.

It is -- the new vehicle, of course is topless as others and the price tag is about, I don't know, a good few tens of thousands less, but I do wonder

who you're targeting it at.

You're probably going to tell me that the production is sold out for the foreseeable future. So, who is buying? Who has got the sort of money to buy

this magnificent motor vehicle?

DOMENICALI: Well, Richard, I think that generally speaking, the customer of these unique products are not really big in liquidity issue at the

moment.

The real problem is the context of which you cannot really buy this beautiful car in a moment where everything is locked down.

So, we need to monitor the situation, as you were correctly saying, you know, our protection or the law is very, very long that we want to see what

will be the reaction of the different market.

We have to bear in mind that 96 percent of our production is sold out of Italy. So, we need to be careful and understand exactly these days, it is

where we are going to have all the time to sit back and open to the topic, what would be the perception of it?

And that's the reason why we took this very cautious approach in understanding what is going to be in the next month our production rate?

QUEST: Stefano, you've given me the quote of the day, the purchasers of your cars do not have their liquidity problem. And that's a lovely way of

putting it, sir. Thank you. You're very kind.

And we'll talk more again about the future of the vehicles. Thank you, sir.

Now, in a moment, J&J, Johnson & Johnson, it is well and truly in the race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine.

It does so as the man in charge tells me after the break that basically, COVID-19, the coronavirus will be with us. It's not going away and that's

why we need to adapt our way of life. Liquidity or not. After the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Richard Quest. There's more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS in just a moment. We'll discuss the race for a

vaccine with one of the world's biggest drugmakers, Johnson & Johnson. And the Qantas CEO tells me masks and temperature checks could become the new

normal for travelers for the foreseeable future. Now, for all of that, this is CNN, and here, the news always comes first.

The ousted head of U.S. research authority is expected to tell lawmakers on Thursday, the Trump administration was unprepared for the Coronavirus

pandemic. According to prepared testimony obtained by CNN, he will also say that without a national response, based on science, U.S. could face

unprecedented fatalities, joining in his words, darkest winter in modern history.

A new CNN poll show democrat Joe Biden has a five-point nationwide lead over the president in the presidential race. Their vital battleground

states are leaning towards the President. Mr. Biden holds a strong lead amongst women and minorities. The German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she

has proof that Russia targeted her in hacking attacks. The Spiegel reported last week that hackers copy data from Mrs. Merkel's e-mail account in 2015

as part of a wider cyber attack on the Bundestag.

The WHO officials are now warning the Coronavirus could become endemic as opposed to being pandemic. Now, that means it might never fully disappear.

It could instead, cycle through the world and, you know, a bit like influenza with various changes every now and again. Many other diseases are

similar.

J&J, Johnson & Johnson is one of the many U.S. companies racing to develop a vaccine. They say they'll begin clinical trials in September. The fourth

firm to join the fray. National Institutes of Health says multiple companies may cooperate. Dr. Paul Stoffels is with us, the Chief Scientific

Officer from Johnson & Johnson. He joins me from Belgium. Paul, thank you, sir. And let's understand this clearly. Realistically, we're not going to

get a vaccine this side of this winter or into next spring. What does that mean for how we have to behave?

[15:35:19]

DR. PAUL STOFFELS, CHIEF SCIENTIFIC OFFICER, JOHNSON & JOHNSON (via Skype): Well, Richard, we're working very hard to get it in -- available somewhere

in the first, second-quarter next year, but that will be in quantities to serve part of the population; later on in larger quantities. So, that means

that if the virus is not controlled by social distancing, and all the other measures, that it might continue to spread and continue to be around in

cities, in villages, in hospitals all over the world. So, it's going to take some time as we see now the worldwide spread accelerating.

QUEST: Now, we're all familiar with influenza and the common cold. I mean, the weather comes nice like now and flu goes away till the next flu season.

To be clear, COVID-19 does not operate like that, does it? There won't be a season when it comes to an end.

STOFFELS: Well, most probably not. It might go up and down with people living inside, outside we don't know yet. We don't know very much the

epidemiology, but it's definitely spreading also in warmer countries in the south. And it's mainly because probably a very low number of people have

exposed and therefore nobody has immunity. So until a larger part of the population has immunity against the virus, it will continue to go around

and spread and will come back. People will see it will come back but to those people who have not been exposed in the past who will get sick, and

that is -- that's not unusual for a virus.

QUEST: There are two elements to this -- to the vaccine, aren't there? First of all, you have to find one that works, then you have to find one

that works, well, in most cases or different types: old, young, and those with immune problems. And finally, you have to be able to manufacture at

industrial scale. So, how far is J&J in all of this?

STOFFELS: Well, we have made vaccines and we are in the -- in the development of vaccines for Zika, Ebola, HIV and RSV. So, we -- it's not

the first time we are doing this, bringing a virus into a vector of vaccine vector, testing in animals, going into the clinic, and then producing on a

large scale. So, where we are now is that we are actually preparing for going to the clinic early September. We have tested with a vaccine vector,

the same type of vaccine we're going to use in COVID. We have tested that in kids and small kids and elderly people living with immune deficiencies

like HIV.

We have done testing around the world in Africa, Asia, North America, Europe. So, we have a lot of experience with the immunogenicity of the

platform. And therefore, we are quite comfortable that we will be having a vaccine. We still need to study the dose. And that will happen later this

year when we get into clinical trials. When it comes to manufacturing, we are at the moment scaling up to having 1 billion vaccines produced in the

course of next year. We have a very productive manufacturing sell line, which allows to produce very large quantities and that we are preparing in

several places on -- in the world.

QUEST: Is it likely that there will be several successful vaccines, and if that is the case, what then determines which one anybody uses? I mean, all

the -- you know, to put it crudely in business terms, will there be a market leader? And if so, will the other companies have wasted their R&D?

STOFFELS: Well, I think at the moment, we don't talk about market leader, we try to make sure we make enough vaccines that we can do, cover as much

as many as possible people. And therefore, it's important that there are more vaccines on the rails to success because there are 7 -- more than 7

billion people in the world. If they all need a vaccine within a shorter timeframe, we need many vaccines, and that's where it's a very good thing.

It will a matter of an ability to prove that it works and the ability to manufacture them in the end, what will make the market leader.

QUEST: Paul, it is always good to have you with us and helping us understand, helping me understand exactly this very complicated business of

vaccines. Please, sir, let's make sure we come -- we'll talk again in the future on this. Thank you, sir. Now, earlier in the program, the CEO of

Qantas was talking about how the airline is going to perform. Well, what about how passengers will experience flying in the future? For more, Alan

Joyce of Qantas after the break.

[15:40:18]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: Welcome back. Now, we'll talk about aviation and airlines, and U.S. Democrats are calling for federal standards in the United States. They want

to ensure that what you experience on an aircraft is the same from carrier to carrier, and that they're not all making it up as they go along. CNN's

Aviation Correspondent Pete Muntean reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Packed in passengers might not be the norm right now, according to major airlines, but more scenes like this

are raising new concerns about whether you can maintain social distancing while flying. Change or cancel a trip because of Coronavirus and you're not

entitled to a refund according to new guidance just laid out by the Department of Transportation. It says you can get your money back within a

week. If it is the airline that cancels. But if you cancel, what you get back is up to the airline.

In the U.S. more than half of all airliners are now parked, but more passengers are stepping on board a shrinking fleet. The number of people

passing through security has climbed to the highest level in six weeks.

BARRY BIFFLE, CEO, FRONTIER AIRLINES: So, we're already seeing visiting friends and relatives kind of our backbone of our business. We're already

seeing that start to come back. But it's at a very small level.

MUNTEAN: United Airlines will now warn passengers if a flight is near capacity and let them rebook, even though it stresses that most flights are

less than half full. All major airlines are now mandating that passengers wear masks but are not guaranteeing that every middle seat will be empty.

REP. PETER DEFAZIO (D-OR): We need federal rules.

MUNTEAN: High-ranking House Democrats say there is inconsistency and uncertainty in airline policies and one federal agencies to act.

DEFAZIO: I think that we should look carefully at whether or not we require distancing on airplanes. And that could require leaving middle seat open.

MUNTEAN: In a statement to CNN, the FAA says its authority lies in safe operation of aircraft and that it is lending aviation expertise to help

officials and airlines. Airline workers want more intervention.

[15:44:59]

JOE DEPETE, PRESIDENT, AIR LINE PILOTS ASSOCIATION: There's a smart way to do this. We need to ensure that we're doing everything we can to prevent

unnecessary additional preventable risks for our (AUDIO GAP)

MUNTEAN: Without federal mandates, industry groups say each airline is coming up with its own protocols. Frontier, for instance, will do

temperature checks at the gate and may turn you away with a fever higher than 100.4.

BIFFLE: We believe you're safer onboard Frontier and most airlines for that matter than most of the -- most enclosed buildings.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: Pete Muntean reporting. The CEO Qantas, Alan Joyce, tells me that when it comes to flying, in terms of Qantas, it has to be an end-to-end

safe experience.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALAN JOYCE, CEO, QANTAS AIRWAYS: Domestically, with very much contactless now, you can check in on your iPhone. You can get to the airport, you can

board all the way through to get on the aircraft. We're looking at temperature checks at the airports. We're looking at giving customers masks

from the aircraft, hand sanitizers, and the ability to wipe down things and when enhanced in the cleaning. And what's very clear from our studies,

we've had a large number of people that have COVID-19 that have traveled on the aircraft since this has happened.

And we can't find a person to person a case of transmission on an aircraft, given the large level of tracking that's been done in here in Australia.

So, on aircraft, there's already protections, they have the filters, and the way the seat configurations are, you're facing a party or in front of

you. So, we think there's also already a lot of protections built in. And if you can put the extra protections on top of that, it's a very, very safe

way of traveling.

QUEST: You've been through one major rescue of the airline in your career. You shut it down once, you've reopened it once. You've dealt with this,

you've dealt with that. You're never thought that this was going to be anything like this.

JOYCE: Not yet, Richard, but one of my predecessors said the aviation industry is subject to the constant shock syndrome. And I take that as a

very valid saying, I take -- I've been CEO of this company for 12 years, I didn't think I'd go through as many crisis as this. But Qantas has been

around for 100 years. And we've gone through very tough times. The Second World War, we've gone through all the wars, we've gone through -- and

actually, Qantas was there in 1990. It was just as the Spanish Flu was ending. But the DNA of this company, the people of this company, have been

focused and surviving, and they've survived for 100 years because they adapt and we'll adapt to this, and we'll come out with all that. I'm sure

absolutely stronger than we've ever been.

QUEST: Make me a promise that it may not be next year, it may not be in two years, but you're not going to kill off Project Sunrise.

JOYCE: We're definitely not going to kill our Project Sunrise. We've obviously delayed the order for the aircraft. We've got a deal with our

pilots now. We think the business case is still valid and we think the business case will work. The question for us is now is not the right time

to order the aircraft. We need to make sure that we see light at the end of this tunnel. We need to make sure that the airline is fully using the

assets it has. And then, we are very confident that this case still works. And we'll see Project Sunrise at some stage.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: Something tells me that they will do project sunrise. Not sure I'll be around to see it when it does actually happen. The video there, of

course, was from the demonstration from the safety and security fight that they did from London to Sydney nonstop. After the break, food prices are

soaring in the United States. It's the biggest monthly rise since the mid- 1970s. It's all about classic supply and demand. Too many people and not enough food, so they say. After the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:50:00]

QUEST: Welcome back. QUEST MEANS BUSINESS from New York. Tonight, our series, "VOICE OF THE CRISIS" we've been very careful to choose companies

that are good examples of the sort of problems small businesses are facing at this moment. So, we follow, for example, when they had to actually

introduce -- when they had to fire staff and furlough staff when they had to then apply for loans. Our company today is known -- is called Feliz

Modern. It is -- we're joined by Ginger Diaz who's the owner. And it's a -- you are -- as I understand it, and you're a souvenir store in Texas, you

are allowed to open, but you've chosen not to. You're still relying primarily on your online business and curbside pickup. Why, what's

happening?

GINGER DIAZ, OWNER, FELIZ MODERN (via Skype): We just were allowed last week to reopen at 25 percent capacity, but we decided to give it a couple

more weeks to see how the COVID cases go locally before we decide whether we reopen or not. But we'll revisit that again in a week or two.

QUEST: And when you've decided -- one of the issues you had to deal with, was of course, applying for help, PPP from the government. I apologize, the

noise is very windy, all of a sudden, but you had to apply for PPP. You got the loan, but now you're worried about whether it will be alone or grant,

aren't you? You may end up having to repay it.

DIAZ: That's right. Yes, we'll probably likely end up repaying 25 to 30 percent of it because it's also -- the forgiveness part is based on your

full-time equivalent, how many full time equivalents you hire back. And our concern is we didn't want to rehire everybody back, if we can't also

guarantee that they would have a job after the PPP funds run out in eight weeks, for us only six more weeks.

QUEST: So, in many ways, you're an example as we've heard before that PPP. It was a -- it's a great idea but it's too early for you. You're going to

need the money, so you can keep -- you can re-employ all your staff once things get better, as I -- as I understand it.

DIAZ: Yes, it definitely helped us rehire -- we have -- we used to have 14 employees which were eight full-time equivalents. We now have eight

employees which are six full-time equivalents. So, it did help us re hire those people that we had to lay off, so they could run our online store.

And the online store is keeping us afloat right now, allowing us to still pay health insurance.

QUEST: So, what's the best seller? What is the best seller from Feliz Modern?

DIAZ: Right now, it's our face mask or a Tomi face mask? Handmade by women in Hidalgo, and we can't keep them in stock. We get a -- we get a new

shipment every week, and then they keep selling out.

QUEST: Great. And you have a whole range of quarantine things, don't you? Special toys designed for quarantines. All these, I was looking on the Web-

site. Fascinating.

DIAZ: And care packages. Yeah, we've been doing a lot of care packages. It's really interesting and cool on -- from our end is that most of our

shipments now are going to an address with other than the billing address, which means gifts. So, it's been really neat to see how many people are

sending care packages to people that they love or their co-workers if they're not around anymore or teachers and just seeing that people are

reaching out, still trying to connect even though they can't connect physically.

[15:55:14]

QUEST: All right, well, the promise today, we're going to break out the corporate credit card and buy a care package, which we'll have deliver to

somebody who we'll talk to you about to see if we can help in some shape or form. Thank you. Let's talk again in a few weeks.

DIAZ: Thank you very much.

QUEST: If we may, when you know about the PPP, and what -- and what is likely to be the case. I'd like to follow up, if I may, but thank you.

Thanks for joining us.

DIAZ: I'd love that. Thank you very much.

QUEST: And talking about all of this today. Thank you. After a quick look at the markets, we're down -- been down most of the session over the

course, dragged down over 1-1/2 percent. Let's see where we are now, as we go towards break. And then, afterwards, we'll have a "PROFITABLE MOMENT."

Here's the markets, down over two percent. We're back -- we're off the lows, still heavily down. "PROFITABLE MOMENT" after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: Tonight's "PROFITABLE MOMENT." Well, we're talking about working from home. WFH, the new reality, and we've got the final edition of it.

We're looking at the future. What does the future of WFH look like, as all of us are having to discover and look at it. So, using the #wfhquest or wfh

-- #QuestWFH, or Richard.Quest@cnn.com. Richard.Quest@cnn.com. Please send me a picture and a thought of you're working from home. Not so much a tip,

not so much anything. I just want to see you and how you've been going about it. So, as we come to the end of this great program, where I've loved

talking to you about all these things, we can have some of you on television, as well. WFHQuest hashtag and the other way around, or simply

Richard.Quest@cnn.com. That's where we can talk, and we can put them up for you. Otherwise, that is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for tonight. I'm Richard Quest

in New York. Whatever you're up to in the hours ahead, I hope it's profitable. Yes, I left the bell downstairs by accident. Gong.

END