Airline Stocks Rise on Passenger Surge

Fueled by a huge uptick in passenger travel this month, largely due to spring break, U.S. airline stocks rose on Monday to give a boost to the beleaguered industry.

United shares led the sector, rising nearly 8 percent in midday trading, followed by a seven percent rise for American Airlines. JetBlue was up five percent, while Alaska Air gained four percent and Delta shares rose about three percent.

Speaking at an investor conference held Monday by JPMorgan, executives from American Airlines, United, Delta and JetBlue all reported strong bookings going into the traditional spring-break period, according to CNN. Several said they’re also selling a growing number of tickets into the summer.

“The last three weeks have been the best three weeks since the pandemic hit,” American CEO Doug Parker said regarding advanced ticket sales. “We’re getting very close to 2019 levels in total bookings.”

Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officials announced 1.34 million passengers passed through security checkpoints around the U.S. on Sunday, March 14.

The 1.34 million people topped the 1.26 million travelers who made their way through American airports on the comparable date a year ago. Sunday was the fourth-straight day TSA agents saw more than one million people pass through its checkpoints.

Although the Thursday through Sunday TSA count was equal to 78 percent of where it stood in the same period last year, it represents only about half of the total for the same time in 2019.

“Our hope is that by the time we get to June where you’ve had much of the population having had access to vaccinations, that we’ve got a chance at breaking even at least,” Southwest CEO Gary Kelly said.