Helped by Delta earnings, airline ETF JETS flies 5%

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Airline-focused exchange traded fund U.S. Global Jets ETF (NYSEARCA:JETS) went wheels up on Wednesday, with the investment vehicle jumping 5.3% by the final hour of trading. The advance came as the ETF's third-largest holding Delta (DAL) +6.3% reported strong quarterly numbers.

Meanwhile, management said the airline had the highest bookings ever over a five-week period. Delta CEO Ed Bastian told Yahoo Finance: "Over the last five weeks we’ve experienced the highest level of sales and booking activity at any time in our history." Bastian added, “I think it’s going to be a very strong summer travel period for us going forward."

JETS, with its $3.31B assets under management, also got a jolt from another top-holding American Airlines Group (AAL), which gained 10.3%. At the same time, Southwest Airlines (LUV) rose 7.4%.

From a weighting stance, JETS holds a 10.59% position in American Airlines, a 10.23% weighting in Delta, and Southwest with a 9.44% weighting.

JETS offers investors access to 54 aviation stocks and sports a 0.69% expense ratio.

Looking longer-term, the airline ETF is +1.2% YTD, making a massive recovery in recent weeks. As early March, the fund was down as much as 20.9%.

In related airline news, a federal mask mandate that was going to expire on April 18th has been extended through May 3rd, the CDC said.