GOKONGWEILED Cebu Air Inc., which operates local carrier Cebu Pacific, recorded its third consecutive week-on-week improvement as some travel restrictions are slowly eased.

The shares of Cebu Air Inc. dipped P1.15 or 2.16 percent to end at P52.10 apiece on Friday. Despite the decline, the firm still managed to conclude the trading week with a 4.62-percent weekon-week gain.

AAA Equities head of research Christopher Mangun attributed the optimism to the stock to the further reopening of the economy, which includes the gradual easing of some travel restrictions.

He also noted that Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd’s recent remark on the government’s willingness to extend aid to the pandemic-stricken airline industry might have also improved sentiment.

Mangun sees the stock to continue moving with the rest of the market for this week and added that a pullback might be seen after several weeks of gains.

“The stock has been moving with the broader market as investors are focused on the recovery of the different industries,” Mangun said in a text message.

Mangun added that shares prices, including Cebu Air’s, would climb higher as long as the economy continues its recovery.

He said Cebu Air is still trading at a “massive discount” compared to its 2019 levels, which makes it attractive to investors.

As for the recovery of the airline industry, Mangun said that projections would be further pushed as long as the global health crisis persists.

“The bottom line is that it would take about two to three years to get comfortable moving freely after the last year and a half of extreme restrictions,” Mangun noted.

“We do expect an immediate surge in air travel once most have been vaccinated due to deals and promos in the tourism industry although, it may not sustain that growth to recover in a short period of time,” he further said.

Cebu Air widened its losses to P7.3 billion in the first quarter, a 516.9-percent expansion from the P1.18 billion loss it posted in the same period last year.