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Best Airline Stocks to Buy Now (2026)

Top airline stocks in 2026 ranked by overall Zen Rating. "A" Rated stocks have returned an average of +28.50% per year, and are the best airline stocks to buy now. Learn More.

According to Zen Ratings, our proprietary rating system that evaluates 115 factors proven to drive growth in stocks and assigns each stock in our system an overall letter grade as well as 7 individual Component Grades for Value, Growth, Momentum, Sentiment, Safety, Financials, and proprietary AI algorithms, the 3 best airline stocks to buy right now are:

Southwest Airlines Co (NYSE:LUV) is the #1 top airline stock out of 18 with a Zen Rating of C. Stocks with a rating of C have had an average return of +5.11% per year. Learn more.

The Component Grade breakdown for Southwest Airlines Co (NYSE:LUV) is: Value: C, Growth: B, Momentum: C, Sentiment: C, Safety: C, Financials: C, and AI: C.

Southwest Airlines Co (NYSE:LUV) has a Due Diligence Score of 55, which is 25 points higher than the airline industry average of 30.

LUV passed 20 out of 38 due diligence checks and has strong fundamentals. Southwest Airlines Co has seen its stock return 21.95% over the past year, overperforming other airline stocks by 21 percentage points.

Southwest Airlines Co has an average 1 year price target of $51.26, an upside of 32.55% from Southwest Airlines Co's current stock price of $38.67.

Southwest Airlines Co stock has a consensus Buy recommendation according to Wall Street analysts. Of the 16 analysts covering Southwest Airlines Co, 37.5% have issued a Strong Buy rating, 12.5% have issued a Buy, 37.5% have issued a hold, while 6.25% have issued a Sell rating, and 6.25% have issued a Strong Sell.

United Airlines Holdings (NASDAQ:UAL) is the #2 top airline stock out of 18 with a Zen Rating of C. Stocks with a rating of C have had an average return of +5.11% per year. Learn more.

The Component Grade breakdown for United Airlines Holdings (NASDAQ:UAL) is: Value: B, Growth: C, Momentum: C, Sentiment: D, Safety: B, Financials: C, and AI: C.

United Airlines Holdings (NASDAQ:UAL) has a Due Diligence Score of 58, which is 28 points higher than the airline industry average of 30.

UAL passed 19 out of 33 due diligence checks and has strong fundamentals. United Airlines Holdings has seen its stock return 0.43% over the past year.

United Airlines Holdings has an average 1 year price target of $164.89, an upside of 52.35% from United Airlines Holdings's current stock price of $108.24.

United Airlines Holdings stock has a consensus Strong Buy recommendation according to Wall Street analysts. Of the 14 analysts covering United Airlines Holdings, 78.57% have issued a Strong Buy rating, 21.43% have issued a Buy, 0% have issued a hold, while 0% have issued a Sell rating, and 0% have issued a Strong Sell.

Allegiant Travel Co (NASDAQ:ALGT) is the #3 top airline stock out of 18 with a Zen Rating of C. Stocks with a rating of C have had an average return of +5.11% per year. Learn more.

The Component Grade breakdown for Allegiant Travel Co (NASDAQ:ALGT) is: Value: C, Growth: A, Momentum: C, Sentiment: C, Safety: C, Financials: C, and AI: C.

Allegiant Travel Co (NASDAQ:ALGT) has a Due Diligence Score of 31, which is 1 points higher than the airline industry average of 30.

ALGT passed 13 out of 38 due diligence checks and has average fundamentals. Allegiant Travel Co has seen its stock return 21.62% over the past year, overperforming other airline stocks by 21 percentage points.

Allegiant Travel Co has an average 1 year price target of $132.82, an upside of 74.62% from Allegiant Travel Co's current stock price of $76.06.

Allegiant Travel Co stock has a consensus Buy recommendation according to Wall Street analysts. Of the 11 analysts covering Allegiant Travel Co, 54.55% have issued a Strong Buy rating, 9.09% have issued a Buy, 36.36% have issued a hold, while 0% have issued a Sell rating, and 0% have issued a Strong Sell.

Out of 5 airline stocks that have issued dividends in the past year, the 3 airline stocks with the highest dividend yields are:

Copa Holdings Sa (NYSE:CPA) has an annual dividend yield of 3.95%, which is 2 percentage points higher than the airline industry average of 1.91%. Copa Holdings Sa's dividend payout is not stable, having dropped more than 10% one times in the last 10 years. Copa Holdings Sa's dividend has shown consistent growth over the last 10 years.

Copa Holdings Sa's dividend payout ratio of 39.6% indicates that its dividend yield is sustainable for the long-term.

Ryanair Holdings (NASDAQ:RYAAY) has an annual dividend yield of 2.63%, which is 1 percentage points higher than the airline industry average of 1.91%. Ryanair Holdings's dividend payout is not stable, having dropped more than 10% one times in the last 10 years. Ryanair Holdings's dividend has shown consistent growth over the last 10 years.

Ryanair Holdings's dividend payout ratio of 32.5% indicates that its dividend yield is sustainable for the long-term.

Southwest Airlines Co (NYSE:LUV) has an annual dividend yield of 1.86%, which is the same as the airline industry average of 1.91%. Southwest Airlines Co's dividend payout is stable, having never dropped by more than 10% in the last 10 years. Southwest Airlines Co's dividend has shown consistent growth over the last 10 years.

Southwest Airlines Co's dividend payout ratio of 43.9% indicates that its dividend yield is sustainable for the long-term.

Airline stocks were down -2.32% in the last day, and up 3.13% over the last week.

We couldn't find a catalyst for why airline stocks are down.

Based on the Valuation rating, one of the 7 components of a stocks overall Zen Ratings grade, which evaluates factors including estimated earnings yield, earnings before interest and taxes/enterprise value, cash flow yield, free cash flow to price, and price-to-earnings growth (PEG ratio), the 3 most undervalued airline stocks right now are:

Grupo Aeromexico Sab De CV (NYSE:AERO) is the most undervalued airline stock based on its Valuation Rating of B. Valuation is one of 7 Component Grades used to calculate the overall Zen Rating.

Grupo Aeromexico Sab De CV has a valuation score of 57, which is 21 points higher than the airline industry average of 36. It passed 4 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks.

Skywest (NASDAQ:SKYW) is the second most undervalued airline stock based on its Valuation Rating of B. Valuation is one of 7 Component Grades used to calculate the overall Zen Rating.

Skywest has a valuation score of 100, which is 64 points higher than the airline industry average of 36. It passed 7 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks.

Skywest's stock has dropped -13.2% in the past year. It has underperformed other stocks in the airline industry by -14 percentage points.

Copa Holdings Sa (NYSE:CPA) is the third most undervalued airline stock based on its Valuation Rating of B. Valuation is one of 7 Component Grades used to calculate the overall Zen Rating.

Copa Holdings Sa has a valuation score of 71, which is 35 points higher than the airline industry average of 36. It passed 5 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks.

Copa Holdings Sa's stock has gained 12.85% in the past year. It has overperformed other stocks in the airline industry by 12 percentage points.

50% of airline stocks rated by analysts are a buy right now. On average, analysts expect airline stocks to rise by 41.9% over the next year.

0% of airline stocks have a Zen Rating of A (Strong Buy), 0% of airline stocks are rated B (Buy), 77.78% are rated C (Hold), 16.67% are rated D (Sell), and 5.56% are rated F (Strong Sell).