Domestic Cases Surge While Overseas Peak Out... Airline Stocks Soar Excitedly

[Asia Economy Reporter Ji Yeon-jin] As the number of COVID-19 cases in Korea surges sharply, the corporate value of airlines has skyrocketed this month. This reflects expectations that demand for overseas travel will increase as countries begin to lift border restrictions amid signs of a global COVID-19 pandemic "peak-out" (decline after the peak).

According to the Korea Exchange on the 17th, Jeju Air surged 36.54% this month through the previous day. Following a 10.65% rise the day before, it showed a strong gain of over 5% during intraday trading on the same day. During the same period, Jin Air recorded a 25.17% increase. On this day, it rose more than 6% intraday, approaching 20,000 KRW.

Major airlines showed similar trends. Asiana Airlines rose 19.61%, and Korean Air increased by 4.71%.

Investment sentiment appears to have recovered as the global COVID-19 pandemic eases. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), new confirmed cases worldwide from the 7th to the 13th (local time) decreased by 19% compared to the previous week. Accordingly, countries are easing quarantine measures. Saipan, Hawaii, Australia, and the Philippines have fully opened their borders to those who have completed vaccination starting this month. Vietnam is also discussing advancing the normalization of travel to the end of March.

However, the domestic COVID-19 situation has worsened since last month. The number of new confirmed cases in Korea approached 100,000 on this day. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently advised against traveling to Korea due to the rapid spread of COVID-19.

Airline stocks showed a similar pattern at the beginning of last year. From early last year, when global COVID-19 vaccinations first began, stocks rose steadily until June. However, they declined following the emergence of the Delta variant and plunged to a yearly low on the 27th of last month. Park Soo-young, a researcher at Hanwha Investment & Securities, said, "The algorithm of reopening attempts and resurgence is likely to repeat for the time being," adding, "Expectations and disappointments for overseas travel, as well as stock price rises and falls, have repeated, but the recovery of passenger demand remains the most critical variable for airline stock performance."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.