The Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN) share price failed to take off in 2021. It was no secret that the company struggled with most of its operations halted due to COVID-19.
Since the beginning of the year, the airline operator's shares moved marginally higher, up 2%. In comparison, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) gained roughly 13.5% over the same period.
For the final day of 2021, Qantas shares closed flat at $4.98 apiece. It's worth noting that in early November, its share price touched a 52-week high of $5.97 before treading lower.
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What happened with the Qantas share price?
The volatility in the Qantas share price in 2021 has been driven by uncertainty relating to the recovery of the travel market.
Earlier this year, Australia effectively managed to control the spread of COVID-19. This led to the company taking advantage of the strong interest in consumers wanting to travel domestically.
During March and April, investors scrambled to buy Qantas shares which led to a sharp and sudden ascent.
However, things turned sour when outbreaks of COVID-19 began to prop up across the country. This caused Qantas to forcefully ground its domestic fleet as several states went into hard lockdowns.
The turmoil drove investors to the exits, sending the airline's shares to a 52-week low of $4.20 in August.
Fast-forward to November, the outlook for the travel industry became rosy again as COVID-19 had been on a steady decline. Furthermore, the Australian government's re-opening of international travel excited investors.
The company brought back several planes from deep storage to meet the expected surge in demand for travel.
But yet again, a new variant of COVID-19, Omicron caused widespread panic across the globe. As such, several counties have gone back into lockdown, and Australia has re-reintroduced restrictions because of the record number of cases.
Is this a buying opportunity?
The good news for investors is that a number of brokers believe that the Qantas share price is attractively valued.
Multinational investment bank, Citi cut its price target by 1.2% to $5.86. Although this is a reduction, it implies an upside of almost 18% over the next 12 months.
In addition, JPMorgan also slashed its outlook by 3.1% to $6.30 a pop. This represents a potential upside of 26% from where it trades today.
Following suit, Swiss investment firm, UBS lowered its assessment on Qantas shares by 3.1% to $6.20. Its analysts clearly believe that there is still significant value in the airline and that a recovery is inevitable.
