US airlines climb on hopes that the 90-day China trade truce boosts travel budgets

US airlines all gained significant altitude Monday morning, following a 90-day tariff truce between the US and China. Carriers American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines were all trading up more than 6%.

Southwest Airlines was up 3%, below smaller budget airlines like JetBlue and Frontier.

Aviation execs have repeatedly warned that continued trade policy uncertainty will send the industry — and the broader economy — into a recession.

Similarly to last month’s aviation industry stock surge fueled by the 90-day reciprocal tariff pause, investors appear hopeful that any easing in global trade tensions will also ease consumer fears around discretionary spending on travel. Also helping airline shares: the Trump administration’s proposed multibillion-dollar air traffic control modernization plan, which would upgrade communication tech and towers across the US.