How to analyse airline stocks

"The world has changed for airlines", said the legendary investor Warren Buffett as his company sold its entire stake in the four airline companies owned by it. COVID has badly hit the airline companies. Meetings that earlier required in-person presence are now being conducted via video conferencing and tourism travel continues to remain dismal due to fear of catching the virus along with border restrictions in various parts of the world. However, forecasters of the industry are divided. While one camp feels that substantial part of business travel will permanently be replaced by internet calls, the other camp feels that the practice of meeting in person will return along with travel and tourism as the world emerges from COVID. While the battle over the future of airline stocks rages, as investors we need to first understand the key metrics used to analyse airline companies before we think about investing in them. Airline companies can be broadly classified into two categories; Low cost carriers and full service carriers. Low cost carriers have lower fares and fewer frills, while full service carriers have complimentary meals, various