the airline industry enters 2023 amid ongoing concerns about the impact of fuel prices and hiring challenges in the industry in an airlineindustry outlook report raymond james analyst savanthi syth says that the analyst firm expects to see demand contract in the first half of 2023 without a meaningful pullback in fuel prices and with elevated cost pressures from networks still recovering from the effects of the covid19 pandemic airlines in the us are also facing significant wage inflation although most carriers in raymond james’ coverage are still generating earnings and some are generating free cash flow according to syth “while we recognize that it is hard for stocks to work ahead of potential negative news we would recommend building positions on pullbacks particularly across our current strong buyrated top picks” she said citing delta air lines inc dal  southwest airlines co luv  copa holdings sa cpa and ryanair holdings plc ryaay  now read delta air lines stock jumps on raised guidance as carrier cites ‘robust’ demand for air travel delta air lines raised its earnings guidance earlier this month providing a boost to a number of airline stocks the carrier said it is executing on its threeyear recovery plan with yearone results ahead of expectations delta also highlighted robust demand for air travel as the industry recovers from the widespread disruption caused by the pandemic the carrier’s stock has fallen 157 this year compared with the sp 500’s spx decline of 201 and the us global jets etf’s jets fall of 184 at its investor day earlier this month southwest airlines promised to return its route network to prepandemic levels by the end of 2023 and cited leisure and businesstravel booking trends that bode well for next year as expected the carrier reinstated its dividend also read after too little too much there are ‘goldilocks’ conditions for air travel in 2023 southwest airlines’ stock is down 149 this year for copa syth pointed to the company’s unit cost compared with its robust prepandemic balance sheet and its advantaged hub as creating “a formidable defensive moat” the panamanian holding company which consists of copa airlines and lowcost carrier wingo has a hub at panama’s tocumen international airport that connects cities in south america to cities in central america north america and the caribbean “relative to global airline peers copa is one of the first airlines to start returning cash to shareholders currently through buybacks” syth added noting that raymond james also expects to see a more meaningful dividend from copa in 2023 now read southwest sees ‘strong’ bookings next year vows to restore prepandemic route network europe’s largest budget airline ryanair is also well positioned for 2023 according to raymond james which points to the company’s cost position and orders for boeing co’s ba 737 max aircraft “we believe ryanair is set to maintain an improved relative cost position vs prepandemic supported by the opportunistic max order book attractively priced lease extensions and volumebased airport agreements” syth wrote “coupled with a strong balance sheet second only to southwest in our coverage universe albeit with only minimal shareholder dilution in contrast to southwest we believe ryanair is well positioned to take advantage of further strengthening or possible shocks” ryanair’s stock is down 252 in 2022 related mesa air to wind down contract with american airlines expand relationship with united airlines underlining the challenges facing the airline industry mesa air group inc mesa on monday announced plans to wind down its contract with american airlines group inc aal and expand its relationship with united airlines holdings inc ual  in a statement mesa said that the restructuring was driven primarily by higher pilot wages and blockhour utilization penalties which are the result of an ongoing industrywide pilot shortage