Why Airline Shares Fell on Thursday

Airline shares were under pressure Thursday after pessimistic commentary by Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) about the pace of a recovery.

Southwest closed down more than 3%, but the biggest decliners on the day were Spirit Airlines (NYSE: SAVE), JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ: JBLU), and United Airlines Holdings (NASDAQ: UAL). All three were off by 5% or more during the day, and Spirit finished down 6.6%.

It's been a tumultuous week for airline stocks. The shares soared higher on Monday on positive news concerning the development of a coronavirus vaccine. But in the days since, they have been coming back down to earth on the reality of how long it will take for widespread inoculations, and fears about how bad the situation might get in the meantime.

Source Fool.com