(Bloomberg) — American Airlines Group Inc. soared the most in two months after the carrier said it would boost July flights 74%, signaling that U.S. travelers freed from shelter-in-place orders are returning more quickly than expected.The busiest days next month will have about 4,000 flights, up from 2,300 in June, said Vasu Raja, American’s senior vice president of network strategy. The July figure is equivalent to 40% of capacity a year earlier, compared with 30% in June, the airline said Thursday.“People are hungry, eager to get back into the economy,” Raja said in an interview. “We feel a real confidence to fly a much bigger July.”American’s expanded schedule builds on recent indications from rivals that customers are starting to make their way back onto planes after fleeing in April because of the coronavirus pandemic. While traffic is still weak by historical standards, the airline’s trends suggest that the worst has passed — and that the rebound in demand has a chance of outpacing the dire expectations that the industry was outlining as recently as last month.The airline’s shares jumped 22% to $14.46 at 11:20 a.m. in New York after advancing as much as 30% for the biggest intraday gain since March 24. American’s surge was the biggest on the S&P 500 Index and ignited a broader industry rally, with the next three slots on the stock gauge claimed by United Airlines Holdings Inc., Delta Air Lines Inc. and Southwest Airlines Co., in that order.American’s load factor, or the average share of seats filled per plane, climbed to 55% last week from 15% in April. Next month, the company will bring back some of the 450 jets it parked during the worst of the collapse in flying. American hasn’t determined which aircraft will be put back in service.Optimism’s LimitsThe carrier acknowledged the limits to the improving outlook. The rebound is still weak on lucrative routes to overseas destinations, with the company planning to fly less than 20% of last year’s international schedule compared with 55% of domestic capacity. Also, American delayed the planned resumption of additional foreign routes by at least a month.Even with the encouraging signs at home, the domestic recovery is “tenuous,” Raja said. The Fort Worth, Texas-based company is still retiring more than 100 aircraft, including three separate fleet types. And Wall Street expects a full recovery to take years for the airline industry.“Air passenger demand will remain severely depressed in 2021,” Moody’s Investors Service said in a report. Flying “will not see a substantial recovery before 2023.”Real-time passenger data has yet to show a dramatic uptick. An average of 314,000 people went through U.S. airport security checkpoints in the past week, according to the Transportation Security Administration. That’s 13% of the equivalent week a year ago and only slightly above the 12% recorded the prior week.‘Inching North’But based on current trends as symbolized by American’s plans for July, the nadir may in the rear-view mirror.The number of daily passengers has grown to 110,330 from 32,154 in the first three weeks of May and “is inching north all the time,” Raja said. By comparison, the airline carried about 600,000 passengers daily pre-Covid 19.The recent gains range from business to leisure trips, Raja said. Corporations are relaxing travel restrictions in states such as Texas and Florida that have eased quarantine requirements. Vacationers are booking flights to amusement parks in Florida, beaches along the Gulf Coast and mountain destinations in Montana, Utah and Colorado.American resumed service to six international cities Wednesday, but will delay until August or later other flights from the U.S. to Europe and Latin America. The airline’s full July schedule will be available for purchase starting June 7.United and Delta also are resuming some overseas flights, but lucrative international business traffic is expected to be the slowest area to rebound. Confusion over which countries have lifted travel restrictions and whether tourist attractions, hotels or other industries are open has contributed to the slower global recovery, Raja said.American also will begin reopening its loyalty club lounges in phases starting June 22, after making improvements to encourage social distancing and reduce the possible spread of Covid-19. The measures include shields at desks and foot-operated door openers.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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Yahoo Finance’s Alexis Christoforous, Brian Sozzi, and Ines Ferre break down the market action for Nio. Diamond Hill Capital recently released its Q1 2020 Investor Letter, a copy of which you can download below. The Diamond Hill Small Cap Fund posted a return of -36.17% for the quarter, underperforming its benchmark, the Russell 2000 Index which returned -30.61% in the same quarter. You should check out Diamond Hill Capital's top 5 […]
Yahoo Finance’s Alexis Christoforous and Brian Sozzi speak to Megan Horneman, Verdence Capital Advisors Director of Portfolio Strategy, about overall markets and what investors should keep a lookout for. In this article you are going to find out whether hedge funds think Teladoc Health, Inc. (NYSE:TDOC) is a good investment right now. We like to check what the smart money thinks first before doing extensive research on a given stock. Although there have been several high profile failed hedge fund picks, the consensus picks […]
(Bloomberg) — BP Plc is in early-stage discussions to sell about a 10% stake in a key gas field in Oman as part of the energy giant’s plans to cut debt, according to people familiar with the matter.London-based BP is talking with interested parties about cutting part of its 60% holding in the Khazzan natural gas field, the people said, asking not to be identified as the matter is private. The 10% stake is likely to fetch more than $1 billion and is drawing interest from other large energy companies, they said.A stake sale would help BP deliver on its goal to achieve $15 billion in divestments by mid-2021 — crucial for easing its debt burden. The company has bolstered its financial reserves as the double impact of the coronavirus pandemic and a crash in oil prices hit profits in the first quarter. In April, BP confirmed its commitment to completing the sale of its Alaska business to Hilcorp Energy Co. on revised terms.No final decisions have been made, and there’s no certainty the deliberations will lead to a transaction, the people said. A representative for BP declined to comment.Khazzan is unique because it’s one of the few fields outside the U.S. which uses the technology that kicked off the shale boom. While the rocks BP drills into aren’t shale, the company has applied hydraulic fracturing to boost output at the site. BP’s partner in the Khazzan field, Oman Oil Co., sold a 10% stake in the project to Malaysia’s state oil company in 2018.In the same year, BP and Oman Oil signed off on the second phase of the onshore Khazzan project, called Ghazeer. The new field is expected to start production in 2021 and boost overall output by 50% to 1.5 billion cubic feet (42.5 million cubic meters) a day, BP said at the time. Ghazeer was tied in to Khazzan in April, almost a year before it was scheduled to start producing.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
Trevor Milton, Nikola founder, joins Yahoo Finance’s Alexis Christoforous and Brian Sozzi, to discuss its Nasdaq debut, Sen. Kamala Harris is the leading contender, which could motivate black voters but alienate some whites.
Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) is tweaking its proposal for the Berlin manufacturing facility in a way that will both please environmental activists and keep the production on time, a local government official said, as reported by Bloomberg on Thursday.What Happened "We expect a proposal that in sum will be more environmentally acceptable and thereby even more approvable," Joerg Steinbach, the economy minister of Brandenburg, where the Tesla site is located, said in an interview, according to Bloomberg."I assume that within the first half of next year, cars will be rolling off the conveyor belt there."Steinbach said Tesla would propose new plans later this week that will address some of the concerns raised by local activists like reducing the use of fresh water and creation of waste water, Bloomberg reported.Why It Matters Hundreds of protestors had taken to the streets in Berlin earlier this year, and a lawsuit was filed against the company for causing harm to the environment.The automaker's Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk had countered the critics saying the net impact of the factory will be much greater than any environmental damage caused in the construction.Musk has previously stated that Tesla is hoping to roll out Model Y cars made at the plant in July next year.Tesla Price Action Tesla shares closed 0.16% higher at $882.96 on Wednesday, and the shares inched further higher at $883.12 in the after-hours session.See more from Benzinga * Tesla CEO Musk Says Other Three Officers Should Be Charged In Floyd's Murder Case * NASA Astronauts Launched By SpaceX Reach International Space Station, Celebrate Historic Moment * Nio CEO Says Tesla An Ally In Increasing Sales, Remains Bullish On Chinese EV Market Growth(C) 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
During the week ending May 30th, another 1.877 million Americans filed for unemployment. Yahoo Finance’s Emily McCormick joins The First Trade to break down the details.