Virgin Atlantic for its financial year ending Feb. 29 reported a pretax operating loss of 80.2 million British pounds, reversing a profit of 18.5 million pounds from a year earlier.
Revenue generated by the privately held carrier increased 3% to 2.7 billion pounds, and passenger count edged up 2% to 5.4 million.
"In an incredibly challenging market, we have managed to grow top-line revenues and fly more customers than last year," according to CEO Steve Ridgway. "However, with the prevailing uncertainty in the economy, sky-high fuel prices and a 25% hike in our air passenger duty fees, converting this sales growth into profit has not been possible."
Source: Business Travel News