Airline shares jumped higher at the open Thursday on a hopeful sign of a travel recovery. United Airlines Holdings (NASDAQ: UAL) led the way, jumping 7.8%, with JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ: JBLU) gaining 7.3% and American Airlines Group (NASDAQ: AAL) and Spirit Airlines (NYSE: SAVE) each up more than 6%.
The stocks gave back much of those gains as the morning went on, but each was still in the green as of 11 a.m. EDT, at a time when the broader market was down more than 2%.
Airlines have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused travel demand to all but evaporate. Industry watchers are expecting demand to remain sluggish through the early months of 2021 at the least, as it seems unlikely travelers will return until there is a vaccine.