Impact of Covid-19 on Listed US-Based Airline Companies: Abnormal Returns Analysis An Event Study Methodology
Abstract
The primary goal of the thesis is to examine the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic had on the
stock prices and market performance of a sample of 11 listed airline companies in the United
States by using the event study methodology. Our findings are based on the data calculated
and extracted from Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS). We aim to explore the
Abnormal Returns (AR) and Cumulative Abnormal Returns (CAR) of the airlines in the sample
during our short event window. The result of our analysis shows that there has been an
overall significant negative impact on the stock returns of our sample during our event
window, especially after the declaration of Covid-19 as a pandemic by World Health
Organization (WHO) on 11 March 2020. However, the demonstration of our results also
shows some positive occurrences, which indicates that investors saw an opportunity to
invest in the airlines, specifically the airlines with the highest brand values, and take
advantage of the lower prices.