World’s top airline shares are in Asia despite China lockdowns

Asian airline stocks are by far the best performers among global peers this year, racking up gains as most of the region reopens for travel even as China sticks with its Covid-Zero strategy, imposing lockdowns and limiting travel. 

Airline shares in Asia are the only gainers on a Bloomberg gauge of global carriers, led by Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd., which has advanced 31% in 2022. While Cathay has long been hemmed in by Hong Kong’s Covid rules, it has steadily rallied this year as the city loosens mandatory hotel quarantine requirements. 

Taiwan’s Eva Airways Corp., Japan Airlines Co., ANA Holdings Inc. have all climbed more than 10% this year, while Singapore Airlines Ltd. and Australia’s Qantas Airways Ltd. have also advanced. The 29-member Bloomberg World Airlines Index is down 15%, with low-cost carrier EasyJet Plc at the bottom of the pile, declining 34%. 

“Asia is only in the early innings of its own ‘revenge travel’ period,” a trend that has already largely played out in the US and Europe, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Tim Bacchus said. The continent “has been the global laggard in terms of reopening.”

Airline shares in Asia have advanced despite China maintaining strict Covid protocols ahead of a key Communist Party congress next month. Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, has extended a lockdown on the back of a few hundred infections. 

The reopening for travel elsewhere in Asia isn’t the only factor boosting the region’s airlines. The Western world also has more concerns over inflation and recession, Bacchus said.