Traders Are Betting Against Airline Stocks at Highest Rate Since Pandemic

Photographer: Jason Black/EyeEm/Getty Images

Investors are betting on a challenging travel season for airlines as sky-high prices and the steady drumbeat of an approaching recession threaten to keep passengers away.

Wagers against the airline industry are now the highest since March 2020 — when outlook for the sector had plunged amid the pandemic — with short interest in the $1.8 billion US Global Jets exchange-traded fund (ticker JETS) currently over 10% of the ETF’s float, according to S3.