Airline shares soared higher at the open on Thursday, propelled by a move by American Airlines Group (NASDAQ: AAL) to aggressively boost its flight schedule for July in response to growing demand for travel.
Shares of American were up 11% as of 10 a.m. EDT, while shares of Spirit Airlines (NYSE: SAVE) were 13% higher. The rally extended to the entire industry, with Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL), United Airlines Holdings (NASDAQ: UAL), Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV), Alaska Air Group (NYSE: ALK), JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ: JBLU), Hawaiian Holdings (NASDAQ: HA), and Allegiant Travel (NASDAQ: ALGT) all up 3% or more.
Airline stocks have been hit hard by COVID-19, with global travel demand for a time falling 95% year over year due to the pandemic. All of the stocks lost half their value or more during the early days of the pandemic on fears that bankruptcies were inevitable.