Airline stocks take flight after Thanksgiving travel season kicks off in a big way

Shares of airline companies saw broad gains Wednesday, after as the latest travel data supported the expectation that Thanksgiving travel would be “busier than ever” this year. The U.S. Global Jets ETF JETS climbed 1.6% toward a two-month high in midday trading, to outpace the S&P 500’s SPX gain of 0.5%. Among the more-active U.S.-based air carrier components, shares of American Airlines Group Inc. AAL ran 2.9%, of United Airlines Holdings Inc. UAL rallied 2.7%, of Delta Air Lines Inc. DAL advanced 1.7%, of JetBlue Airways Corp. JBLU were up 1.1% and of Southwest Airlines Co. LUV tacked on 0.9%. From the Saturday before…