Thanksgiving air travel is surging this year, with the busiest travel day still ahead. Robust demand for air travel could boost airline companies, particularly if the trend carries through the holiday season.
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Travel Is Booming During the Thanksgiving Holiday
To illustrate just how busy the skies have been, Barron’s, citing Transportation Security Administration (TSA) data, reported that TSA screened over 13.1 million passengers at U.S. airports from Friday through Tuesday. This marks a 5% increase compared to the 12.5 million travelers during the same period last year. Looking ahead, the TSA anticipates screening over 3 million passengers on Sunday, potentially surpassing the record 3,013,622 passengers screened on July 7.
This strong holiday travel demand is expected to lift fourth-quarter earnings for major airlines.
Airlines Have Minimized Disruptions
In addition to handling increased passenger numbers, airlines have done a commendable job minimizing disruptions. For example, Barron’s cited FlightAware data showing 18,233 flights were delayed from Sunday through Wednesday, slightly fewer than the 18,900 delays during the same period last year. Cancellations also dropped significantly, with only 292 flights canceled—less than 0.5% of all scheduled flights, compared to a 1.3% cancellation rate in 2023.
As the Sunday after Thanksgiving approaches, airlines face their biggest operational test yet. Historically, this has been the busiest travel day of the year, and last year alone saw over 7,600 flights delayed by at least 15 minutes. If airlines can keep disruptions to a minimum on this critical day, they could not only meet but exceed expectations, wrapping up the holiday season on a high note.
Which Airline Is the Best Stock?
For investors interested in investing in airline stocks, we have rounded up the best airline stocks that Wall Street analysts are bullish about using the TipRanks Stocks Comparison tool. This graphic indicates that analysts are bullish about United Airlines (UAL), Delta Airlines (DAL), and Skywest (SKYW) while they are cautiously optimistic about Sun Country Airlines (SNCY).
