Investment Implications of Pandemic Risk for the Airline Industry

Below is an excerpt from ISS ESG’s thought leadership paper “Investment Implications of Pandemic Risk for the Airline Industry.” The full paper is available for download from the Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) online library.

Since the detection of COVID-19, global airline traffic has fallen in some instances 80 percent year-over-year, and travel restrictions continue to be put in place between G7 nations attempting to limit the spread of the deadly virus. The government of Italy announced on March 15 that they plan to take control of Alitalia. In a string of announcements, global operators have reduced capacity or even terminated regular flight operations altogether, as is the case with Austrian Airlines. These decisions impact not only top line sales, but also operating costs as the planes still need to be paid for whether they are in the air or on the ground.