THE REACTION OF AIRLINE STOCKS IN EUROPE TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: AN EVENT STUDY METHODOLOGY

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has struck all life, global economy, and financial markets. It stopped airline transportation in Europe and many regions of the world for a certain period as well as affecting many businesses negatively. In this process, naturally, excessive losses occurred in stock markets. Airline stocks were among the most affected by this situation. From this point of view, this study analyzes 38 airline stocks traded in the stock markets of 14 European countries with “the event study methodology”. The main purpose is to compare the reaction of the airline stocks traded in the stock markets of these countries to the pandemic and to determine whether a statistically significant cumulative average abnormal return is provided from them. Accordingly, event windows are determined as short and long windows within the scope of the event study. The findings show that a statistically significant cumulative average abnormal returns for airline stocks in all countries occurred in the -50 +50 event window. Besides, in short event windows around the pandemic announcement on March 11, which is accepted as the event date in this study, airline stocks in some countries respond to the pandemic significantly, while others do not.