Virgin Atlantic has posted its first profit since the pandemic following a four-year turnaround program and exactly as scheduled. The London-based long-haul carrier reported a modest profit of £20 million for the year ending December 21, 2024, but the airline has already warned that storm clouds could be brewing on the horizon.
In its annual financial results published on Monday, Virgin Atlantic said its return to profitability had been helped by record revenues on the back of continued strong demand from business and premium leisure travelers.
The annual profit marks a stark but welcome contrast from the £139 million loss reported in 2023 and the even bigger £206 million loss that the airline reported for 2022.
Virgin Atlantic’s four-year turnaround program, known internally as Velocity, has also helped the carrier slash costs, with chief executive Shai Weiss describing 2024 as a “turning point” for the airline, which nearly went bankrupt during the pandemic.
There are, however, already storm clouds brewing on the horizon, with growing economic uncertainty in the United States already starting to show itself in the form of weakening demand for transatlantic travel from North America to Europe.
According to Virgin Atlantic’s chief financial officer, Oliver Byrns, the airline has already “started to see some signals that US demand is slowing,” especially for travel during the Spring.
For the time being, Virgin Atlantic should be buoyed by the fact that there is still robust demand for travel from the UK to the United States, although it remains to be seen whether bookings might start taking a hit as global tariffs from the Trump administration go into effect.
Major investor Delta Air Lines has so far only reported a softening in travel demand throughout its domestic network, and the Atlanta-based carrier says that long-haul routes continue to see strong sales.
The admission from Virgin Atlantic, however, could mean that other airlines will soon start updating their guidance for what had, until very recently, been looking like a bumper year.
