Airlines turn market darlings as Covid-19 forces financial clean up

Unloved during the pandemic with their business paralyzed almost overnight, airlines that cut back to survive the crisis are now blowing through profit forecasts and luring back investors.

Virgin Australia, so financially frail when Covid-19 hit in 2020 that it folded in weeks, has undergone a remarkable transformation under new owner Bain Capital. Free of much of its debt after exiting administration and with a scaled down fleet, the airline is making money for the first time in years. It plans to re-list in Sydney, possibly this year.

These freshly — and forcibly — streamlined carriers are capitalizing on a surge in travel since virus restrictions fell away.