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<\/p>\nAmerican\u2019s shares soar 41% on volume of nearly 400 million shares after company expects flights in July to improve to more than half of last year\u2019s capacity<\/p>\n
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Published: June 4, 2020 at 4:17 p.m. ET, By Tomi Kilgore<\/p>\n
Shares of American Airlines Group Inc. soared to a record gain on record volume Thursday, to lead a broad rally in the airline sector, after the carrier indicated it was boosting capacity amid increasing signs that the worst of the COVID-19-related crisis was over.<\/p>\n
The stock AAL rocketed 41.3% to the highest close since March 10, marking the biggest one-day percentage gain since it started trading in its current form in December 2013. The previous record rally of 35.8% was on March 24, in anticipation of the passage of a government bailout package<\/a>.<\/p>\n Trading volume ballooned to 394.4 million shares, surpassing the previous record of 138.1 million shares on April 7, and compared with the full-day average of about 71.7 million shares.<\/p>\n The stock led the 30 of 33 equity components of the U.S. Global Jets exchange-traded fund JETS that rose Thursday, by wide margin. In second was Spirit Airlines Inc.\u2019s stock SAVE which jumped 21.4%.<\/p>\n American said Thursday that it expects to fly in July<\/a> about 55% of the domestic capacity that was flown during July 2019, as load factor improved 55% at the end of May from 15% for the month of April.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re seeing a slow but steady rise in domestic demand,\u201d said Vasu Raja, senior vice president of network strategy. \u201cAfter a careful review of data, we\u2019ve built a July schedule to match.\u201d<\/p>\n American\u2019s stock has now rocketed 59.4% this week amid a four-day win streak, which would be its biggest-ever weekly gain, topping the previous record of 35.3% for the week ended March 27.<\/p>\n The increasing demand American has seen is in sync with other industry data points, which suggest a continued bounce in travel demand off a bottom seen in April. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA)<\/a> said that the daily average per week (through Sunday) of travelers going through its checkpoints has improved for six straight weeks, according to a MarketWatch analysis of government data.<\/p>\n An average of 305,358 people went through TSA checkpoints a day during the week ended May 31, or more than triple the low of 97,799 seen during the week ended April 19, as the COVID-19 pandemic<\/a> resulted in shelter-in-place orders and travel restrictions.<\/p>\n