Yahoo Finance Airline Stock Roundup: ALGT Reports Rosy October Traffic, AAL, DAL in Focus
In the past week, Allegiant Travel Company ALGT reported upbeat traffic numbers for October. Highlighting the air-travel demand strength, Allegiant carried 12.9% more passengers in October 2022 than in October 2019 (pre-coronavirus era).
Riding on the upbeat air-travel demand scenario, U.S. airlines are expected to perform very well in the ongoing Thanksgiving week. An upbeat projection for traffic during the Thanksgiving travel period was also mentioned in the previous week’s write up. American Airlines AAL intends to add flights to Phoenix over the Super Bowl weekend in February 2023, anticipating high passenger volumes. Delta Air Lines DAL and partner LATAM Airlines announced that a non-stop flight connecting Sao Paolo and Los Angeles will operate from Jul 1, 2023.
Recap of the Latest Top Stories
1. In October 2022, Allegiant carried 1.25 million passengers, up 12.9% from the October 2019 actuals. Revenue passenger miles (a measure of traffic) and available seat miles (a measure of capacity) increased 20.3% and 17%, respectively, from October 2019 levels. Load factor (% of seats filled by passengers) increased 2.4 points to 85.5% in October 2022, as the traffic increase was more than the capacity expansion. In October 2022, Allegiant carried 7.3% more passengers (system-wide) than in October 2021. Capacity contracted 2.4% from the year-ago comparable month’s reading. Average fuel cost per gallon (estimated) was $3.91 in October 2022.
2. To meet the anticipated demand swell during the Super Bowl weekend next February, American Airlines will reportedly add 91 flights to the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in the Feb 9-Feb 14 time frame. Super Bowl will be played on Feb 12 at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale. Over the five-day period, AAL will operate more than 3,000 flights to/from Phoenix. The day after the Super Bowl (Feb 13) is expected to be extremely hectic, with 548 flights arriving at/departing from the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. American Airlines currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
3. The first new market for the joint venture between Delta and the Latin American carrier LATAM Airlines will be Sao Paolo, Brazil. Currently, DAL does not operate flights connecting Los Angeles to Sao Paolo. From Jul 1, the flight will operate thrice a week on the route. A Boeing 777-300ER aircraft will be used for operating flights on the Sao Paolo- Los Angeles route. The jet has a capacity for 410 passengers (38 in the Premium Business cabin, 50 in Economy+ and 322 in Economy). The new route will offer customers access to the largest U.S.-South America market from Los Angeles.
Performance
The following table shows the price movement of the major airline players over the past week and during the last six months.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The table above shows all airline stocks have traded in the green over the five trading days. Evidently, the NYSE ARCA Airline Index has increased 1.5% to $61.06 over the past five trading days. Over the past six months, the NYSE ARCA Airline Index has declined 9.5%.
What's Next in the Airline Space?
With the earnings season over, watch this space for the usual news updates.
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Delta Air Lines, Inc. (DAL) : Free Stock Analysis Report
American Airlines Group Inc. (AAL) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Allegiant Travel Company (ALGT) : Free Stock Analysis Report
