More people are jumping on planes and more are going back to offices and that boosted second-quarter numbers from Honeywell International. That should be a relief to investors.

Honeywell (ticker: HON) reported adjusted earnings per share of $2.10 from $9 billion in sales. Wall Street was looking for $2.03 a share from $8.7 billion in sales.

In the first quarter of 2022, Honeywell reported $1.91 a share from $8.4 billion in sales. In the second quarter of 2021, Honeywell reported per share earnings of $2.02 from $8.8 billion in sales. Things are going in the right direction.

Earnings guidance for the full year ticked up a little too, going to a midpoint of about $8.68 a share from $8.65 a share. Wall Street is projecting $8.69 in 2022 earnings per share.

Sales and earnings guidance for the third quarter is a midpoint of about $9.1 billion and $2.15 a share, respectively. Sales are in line with Wall Street expectations. Earnings look a little light. Analyst are projecting about $2.25 in third-quarter per-share earnings.

Still, it looks like a solid report. Shares were up 2.2% in premarket trading. S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively.

Coming into Thursday trading, Honeywell shares have declined about 12% this year.

"Honeywell met or exceeded guidance for all metrics in the second quarter despite a challenging macroeconomic backdrop," said CEO Darius Adamczyk in the company's news release. He was pleased with sales growth posted in many of Honeywell's businesses.

Aerospace sales rose about 5% on a comparable basis year over year. That's the same as first-quarter growth and another sign that the aviation business is continuing its recovery from its Covid-related slump.

Sales growth in the commercial buildings segment came in at about 14%, up from 10% in the first quarter. That's another sign that the worst of Covid-19 related impacts are fading. That business does better when people are back in buildings.

Sales at Honeywell's energy grew about 10% year over year, up from about 6% in the first quarter.

The safety business, which includes masks, contracted. Sales were down 10% in the second quarter. That business was down 15% year over year in the first quarter.

Options markets imply Honeywell stock will move about 4%, up or down, following earnings. That's similar to the post-earnings volatility experienced over the past four quarters. Shares have risen once and fallen three times over that span.

The company hosts a conference call at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time to discuss results. Investors and analysts will be eager to hear about demand as well as a recovery in aerospace and a return to offices by workers.