U.S. airline stocks took flight on Thursday on strong first quarter earnings reports and outlooks for the rest of the year.
In premarket trading, American Airlines stock was up 10.6%, at its highest in six months, while United Airlines stock was up 8.5%, at its highest since February. Delta and Southwest stock were both up more than 3%, while JetBlue stock was up 4.9%, according to Yahoo Finance.
American Airlines, the largest airline in the U.S., on Thursday said that last month was the first time since the beginning of the pandemic that its revenue surpassed 2019 levels, adding that it will return to profitability in the current quarter.
United Airlines said on Wednesday that it expects to be profitable this year, pointing to the return of business travel for the first time in over two years.
Airline stocks already rose earlier in the week on legislation; a Federal judge threw out the mask mandate that the Biden administration had issued for flights as part of its COVID-19 public health measures.
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