American Airlines shares close higher after plans for increasing domestic flights in July

American Airlines’ stock closed higher on Thursday, with shares gaining 41.25%. There was also an increase in the shares of other US airlines as investors moved from the stocks benefitting from the pandemic to companies that will begin their economic recovery.

American Airlines’ shares enjoyed a record gain on Thursday after the company announced its schedule for July, which includes an increased number of domestic flights. The jump in shares marked the company’s biggest one-day gain since it started trading.

The previous record of 138.1 million shares, which was achieved on April 7, was surpassed on Thursday, with the trading volume increasing to 394.4 million shares. The American Airlines’ stock was ahead of 30 of the total of 33 components in the US Global Jets ETF exchange-traded fund.

On Thursday, the airline company shared its expectations for domestic flights during July reaching about 55% of the flight capacity of July 2019. The positive forecast for the US flights followed the accelerated load factor that jumped from 15% in April to 55% at the end of May.

American Airlines plans to resume its lounge service in 10 major US cities on June 22. Meanwhile, the airline will continue following strict health and cleaning procedures to ensure the safety of customers.

Passengers who book flights in June and complete them by the end of September will be eligible for the Summer of Deals promotion of American Airlines. Those who meet the condition of the offer will be awarded double the usual amount of AAdvantage miles. Those who book their flights in June will be exempted from change fees and will be able to rebook to flights with fewer reserved seats.

Analyst stock price forecast and recommendation

According to CNN Money, 15 analysts who provide 12-month price forecasts for American Airlines Group Inc. have a median price target of $10.00, with a high estimate of $27.00 and a low estimate of $1.00. The median estimate represents a -40.26% decrease from the last price of $16.74.

The same media also offers the recommendations of 19 investment analysts who have a consensus rating of “Hold” for the American Airlines Group Inc. stock. Out of the 19 polled analysts, 7 ranked the company’s stock as “Hold”, 2 as “Buy”, 7 as “Sell”, 1 as “Underperform” and 2 – as “Outperform”.