Spirit Airlines and Frontier Group are merging in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $6.6 billion.

The world’s biggest shipping lines, flush with cash, are buying their own fleets of cargo planes and adding airlifts for big clients willing to pay extra to get around supply-chain snarls at sea resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic. Airfreight accounts for less than 1% of global trade by volume but 35% by value.

Occupancy rates and room revenue are likely to approach 2019 levels in 2022, but the outlook for ancillary revenue is less optimistic. Business travel is expected to remain down more than 20 percent for much of the year, and only 58 percent of meetings and events are expected to return.

The second-largest owner of U.S. marinas is acquiring the third-largest owner, creating a new powerhouse in this niche real-estate business as boat sales surge during the pandemic. Centerbridge Partners LP said it is paying about $400 million for Westrec Marinas, which the investment firm will absorb into its own Suntex Marinas. That will create a combined company with more than 50 marinas that is valued at $2.5 billion, making it the second-highest-valued U.S. marina owner after Safe Harbor Marinas.

The S&P 500 Energy Sector is up almost 19% so far this year while the broader S&P 500 is down about 5%. Over the last 12 months, shares of the largest western oil companies have all risen dramatically.

Blackstone Inc. and Starwood Capital Group, two of the largest real-estate investors in the U.S., agreed to jointly purchase 111 extended-stay hotels under the WoodSpring Suites brand for about $1.5 billion.

Overall, commercial-property sales totaled a record $809 billion in 2021. That was nearly double 2020’s total, and it exceeded the previous record of about $600 billion in 2019.

The VIX hit its highest level in a year on Wednesday, buffeted by concerns about central-bank policy around interest rates, inflation and geopolitical tensions over Russia.

Ninety-five percent of people surveyed want flexible hours with 78% of workers wanting location flexibility.

STR forecasts the U.S. hotel industry should reach peak occupancy in 2023. In 2024, as group and business transient travel returns, the industry is expected to set a new occupancy record.