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Virgin Australia follows Qantas in reporting deeper losses

Virgin Australia has followed rival Qantas in revealing deeper annual losses.

The airline posted an after-tax loss of A$355.6 million (£200.5 million) for the full year to June.

The result is more than triple the carrier’s previous year’s loss of A$98.1 million.

Virgin Australia blamed weak consumer sentiment, overcapacity in the market and carbon tax costs for the loss.

The airline is to sell a 35% stake of its Velocity frequent flyer program to a private equity firm, valuing the program at A$960 million.

The underlying loss for the year of A$211.7 million was in line with market expectations, the BBC reported.

Virgin Australia said: “Given the uncertain economic environment we are unable to provide guidance for the 2015 financial year at this time.”

Chief executive John Borghetti said: “The 2014 financial year has seen one of the most difficult operating environments in the history of Australian aviation.”

Virgin competes head to head with Qantas in Australia, which reported a record net loss of A$2.8 billion for the same period on Thursday.

Air New Zealand, Etihad Airways and Singapore Airlines own stakes in Virgin Australia, which in turn has a 60% stake in budget airline Tiger Airways Australia which is not expected to make a profit until the end of 2017.

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