A traveler wearing a protective mask waits to board a United Airlines flight at San Francisco International Airport, Oct. 15, 2020.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Airline stocks jumped Monday after airport screenings over the weekend rose above 1 million for the first time since mid-March, a sign more travelers are getting comfortable flying again despite the pandemic.
The Transportation Security Administration screened 1.03 million people on Sunday, the most since March 16. That is still 60% lower from a year ago, when 2.6 million people passed through TSA airport checkpoints, showing airlines’ pandemic-induced struggles are far from over.
But the figure still represents improvement. So far this month, daily airport screenings are down 65% compared with the first 18 days of October 2019. In April, screenings were down more than 90% from a year earlier.
Delta and United executives last week noted encouraging booking trends but warned investors that a full recovery to pre-pandemic levels, particularly for once-lucrative business travel, is likely years away.
Both carriers posted large losses for the third-quarter. American and Southwest are scheduled to report results before the market opens on Thursday.
United shares on Monday were up 5.3% in afternoon trading, while Delta was 1.3% higher. American and Southwest were each up about 2%. The S&P 500 was off 0.5%.
