Airline Stock Roundup: DAL, ALK's Expansion Updates, RYAAY's Traffic
In the past week, Delta Air Lines’DAL management announced that it aims to expand its presence in Asia. To that end, DAL will operate to launch its first-ever nonstop service from Salt Lake City International Airport to Seoul-Incheon International Airport from next year.
To expand its network, Alaska Air Group’s ALK wholly-owned subsidiary, Alaska Airlines, launched five new non-stop routes. Owing to the upbeat air-travel demand scenario, Ryanair Holdings RYAAY reported impressive traffic numbers for September 2024.
Southwest Airlines LUV, currently involved in a tussle with Elliott Investment Management, received a vote of confidence when board member Rakesh Gangwal invested significantly in the airline company.
Recap of the Recent Most Important Stories
1. DAL aims to operate the route between Salt Lake City and Seoul from June 12, 2025. This will be the sole direct flight linking Salt Lake City to Asia. Once the route becomes operational, it will provide seamless connections to key destinations across Asia for travelers throughout the Mountain West and Southwest regions in the United States. The route, after being launched, will be Delta’s fifth direct U.S. route to Seoul.
DAL currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here
2. In September, the number of passengers transported on Ryanair flights was 19.1 million, reflecting a 10% year-over-year increase. The September load factor (percentage of seats filled by passengers) of 94% remained flat sequentially as well as on a year-over-year basis. Ryanair expects its fiscal 2025 traffic to increase 8% on a year-over-year basis.
3. To meet the upbeat air-travel demand scenario, Alaska Airlines has launched five new nonstop routes between Las Vegas and both San Diego and Santa Rosa/Sonoma County, CA, and between Los Angeles and both Pasco, WA, and Reno, NV. The company is also resuming its nonstop service between Portland, OR and Atlanta. With a view to expanding its presence on the West Coast, ALK has established two new flights from Los Angeles, providing the most daily flights to West Coast destinations from Los Angeles International Airport.
4. LUV’s management received backing from board member Rakesh Gangwal when he purchased 3.6 million LUV shares for approximately $108 million. By making this investment, Gangwal exhibited strong insider confidence in the low-cost carrier’s prospects. Owing to this development, LUV shares gained 3.18% on Oct. 3, closing the trading session at $30.51.
LUV was also in the news recently due to improved third-quarter 2024 earnings per share guidance. That news was covered in detail in the previous week’s write-up.
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 NYSE ARCA Airline Index decreased 2.6% to $56.92, as most stocks in the table above traded in the red. Over the past six months, the NYSE ARCA Airline Index decreased 12.1%.
What’s Next in the Airline Space?
Delta will kick start the third-quarter 2024 earnings season for airlines on Oct. 10. We expect upbeat passenger volumes to have boosted DAL’s top-line performance in the September quarter. However, the global IT outage on July 19, 2024, which resulted in multiple flight cancelations, is expected to have dented performance. More details regarding the ALK’s Hawaiian Airlines acquisitionare also expected in the coming days.
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Ryanair Holdings PLC (RYAAY) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Delta Air Lines, Inc. (DAL) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Alaska Air Group, Inc. (ALK) : Free Stock Analysis Report