Why Airline Stocks Like Southwest and United Got Grounded on Wednesday
Shares of most major airline stocks finished Wednesday's trading session well into the red. Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) closed nearly 2% lower versus the S&P 500's (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) slight gain, while peers and rivals United Airlines Holdings (NASDAQ: UAL) and American Airlines (NASDAQ: AAL) both fell more than 3%. Leading the charge lower, however, was Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) with its 5.8% setback.
One doesn't have to look far or long to identify plenty of headaches for the air travel industry.
Case(s) in point: The delta variant of COVID-19 is keeping some would-be travelers cautious for safety-minded reasons, while at the same time creating friction between airline employees and the airlines themselves; not every airline employee is keen on complying with vaccine mandates. Business travel spending is somewhat stifled, too, due to fears that an economic slowdown may be in the offing because of the lingering pandemic. The Global Business Travel Association reports that as of August, only 35% of businesses intended to send employees on business trips by plane within the following three months. That's down from July's measure of 68%.
Source Fool.com
