Airline stocks take flight after Thanksgiving travel season kicks off in a big way

Shares of airline companies saw broad gains Wednesday, after as the latest travel data supported the expectation that Thanksgiving travel would be “busier than ever” this year. The U.S. Global Jets ETF
JETS,
+2.18%
climbed 1.6% toward a two-month high in midday trading, to outpace the S&P 500’s
SPX,
+0.73%
gain of 0.5%. Among the more-active U.S.-based air carrier components, shares of American Airlines Group Inc.
AAL,
+3.08%
ran 2.9%, of United Airlines Holdings Inc.
UAL,
+0.94%
rallied 2.7%, of Delta Air Lines Inc.
DAL,
+3.53%
advanced 1.7%, of JetBlue Airways Corp.
JBLU,
+13.53%
were up 1.1% and of Southwest Airlines Co.
LUV,
+3.91%
tacked on 0.9%. From the Saturday before Thanksgiving through Tuesday, the Transportation Security Administration said 10.08 million people passed through TSA checkpoints this year, or 14.2% more than the same period in 2019.