American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ:AAL) has announced new flights to Europe, catering to high customer demands for Europe travel during summer. The carrier will offer special summer services to Budapest and Prague from Philadelphia, plus an additional one to Venice from Chicago, beginning May 4, 2018.
Budapest and Prague will be extra destinations on the airlines’ travel route. The carrier currently offers flights connecting Venice from Philadelphia. Earlier in summer this year, the carrier started services to Amsterdam and Rome from Dallas/Fort Worth and to Barcelona from Chicago, thus expanding its European presence. At present, American Airlines along with its joint business partners conducts nonstop flights to 23 European destinations from the United States.
This Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company has been making constant efforts to extend its global reach. To this end, the airline announced plans to purchase a minority stake in China Southern Airlines (NYSE:ZNH) in March this year. The carrier has invested approximately $200 million in the Hong Kong-listed shares of China Southern.
With this move, the airline seems to follow the likes of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) , which had similarly purchased a 3.55% stake in China Eastern Airlines (NYSE:CEA) in 2015. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Notably, focus of the U.S. carriers like American Airlines on the Chinese market is pretty logical, given the projection that China will be the largest aviation market by 2024, thereby overtaking the United States.
Price Performance
American Airlines stock has been performing well of late, on the back of strong second-quarter results. The stock has outperformed its industry in the last three months. Shares of the company have gained 8.42% compared with the industry’s increase of 4.08%.
This announcement is likely to boost the stock further.
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Delta Air Lines, Inc. (DAL): Free Stock Analysis Report
American Airlines Group, Inc. (AAL): Free Stock Analysis Report
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