Bonds to equity: Airlines are making money selling everything but tickets

The first thing companies try to sell in a crisis are bits of paper. Airlines have issued $88 billion in bonds so far in 2020

With hopes that their season in hell could be approaching an end, airline stocks are on a tear.

Shares in Singapore Airlines Ltd. jumped the most in 21 years Tuesday while those in Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. were up the most since 2008 after Singapore and Hong Kong announced the opening of a travel bubble starting Nov. 22. News of successful trials of a Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE coronavirus vaccine pushed the Bloomberg World Airlines Index up 9.7% Monday in anticipation of an ebbing tide of pandemic.

The cavalry better come quickly. Right now, much of the industry is running short