By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com – Airline stocks were trading higher in Wednesday’s premarket following a better than expected second-quarter performance from Delta and positive guidance from American Airlines ahead of its earnings.
American Airlines (NASDAQ:AAL) gained the most and was higher by more than 3%. Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL), United Airlines (NASDAQ:UAL) and JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU) were all up around 2%, while Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) was up 1.2%.
Airlines were among the worst affected in the pandemic and they are now expected to benefit from booming demand as people seek to travel more after being closeted for a year.
Delta’s $7.13 billion revenue for the quarter ended June topped analysts’ estimate of $6.14 billion.
The airline’s loss in earnings at $1.02 per share was also less than the $1.36 loss analysts estimated.
Delta said it “achieved a solid pretax profit in the month of June” while adding more to its fleet.
“Domestic leisure travel is fully recovered to 2019 levels and there are encouraging signs of improvement in business and international travel,” the airline said in a note.
Delta’s positive commentary follows similar views by American Airlines on Tuesday.
In a filing with the SEC Tuesday, American Airlines said it expects to report between a net loss of $35 million and a net profit of $25 million in the second quarter of 2021.
The airline now expects positive cash flow in its second quarter, the first three-month period when this will happen since the beginning of the pandemic.