The Good: The Airlines As this weekly recap has written about extensively, the airlines have a sincerely tough go of it since the beginning of the pandemic and the travel restrictions that followed. But there’s finally good news to point to on two fronts: increased ridership and the rising possibility of a second governmental relief package. More than 800,000 people passed TSA checkpoints on Sunday, the highest number since March. It’s worth noting that, while these numbers show improvement, air travel is still down 70% from where it was in March 2019. While airlines, from Delta to Jetblue, have a long ways to go before they recover back to normalcy, stocks have seen impressive growth on the back of a second stimulus package that would extend support until March 2021, potentially saving up to 70,000 jobs. With lawmakers still struggling to reach a compromise and no aid offered by President Trump’s executive orders, some analysts worry that stocks will fall again after the summer. The Bad: McDonald’s McDonald’s is amidst a sizzling scandal as it tries to recover $40 million in severance from its ousted CEO. Steve Easterbrook, the former CEO let go last November after revelations of sexual relationships with fellow McDonald’s employees, has been accused of fraud and misrepresenting details of an extensive investigation about his potential relationships. New evidence shows that Easterbrook had multiple relationships with employees, some documented on his corporate email account, contradicting earlier statements he’d made. These alleged revelations include improper offers to at least one employee with whom Easterbrook had an affair, including “an extraordinary stock grant, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.” The Ugly: Marriott Like many hospitality oriented chains, Marriott International has felt worldwide pain as the Covid pandemic has limited travel of all sorts. However, Marriott posted a larger-than-expected quarterly loss on Monday as the pandemic blunted room booking numbers. Marriott saw total revenue sink 72.4%, down to $1.46 billion, in the last quarter, but reported some optimism as it anticipates a gradual rise in occupancy rates. However, Marriott, and other hotel chains including Hilton, expects the recovery to pre-Covid demand to take several years.