Virgin Atlantic commercial chief hopes rivals will ‘take it seriously’ after profit return

The chief commercial officer of Virgin Atlantic hopes competitors will “start taking us more seriously now” after the airline posted its first profits since the pandemic.

 

The airline reported profit before tax and exceptional items of £20 million as revenues rose by £183 million to a record £3.3 billion in the 2024 calendar year. 

 

Commenting on the airline’s 7% operating EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) margin, Juha Jarvinen said: “This compares very well with other airlines.

 

“If you look at other players’ 2024 performance, this puts us in the middle in terms of rankings, between United and easyJet. We have a better operating EBIT than easyJet, which is an important message both internally and externally.”

 

Speaking as the airline launched daily direct flights to Toronto, he acknowledged the carrier’s financial performance “mattered less to the end customer”, but said trade partners, TMCs and corporates “certainly pay attention”.

 

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More: Virgin Atlantic aims to grow operating margin after return to profit

 

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“The competition will hopefully take us a bit more seriously now,” he said, and added: “This gives us a great platform to generate more profit.”

 

But Jarvinen said the airline could and would not rest on its laurels.

 

“The hard work continues. We never take anything – any sale or any customer – for granted. It’s going to be a challenging year, there’s no doubt about that.”

 

However, Jarvinen said the UK market was holding up well.

 

“In fact, it’s pretty buoyant as the pound has strengthened,” he said. “We’ve not seen any impact on UK demand yet.”

 

It is a different story stateside, he added, noting that “US demand is softening”.

 

“The US market is hesitant. Particularly in Economy [class]. Less so in Premium and Upper. We are hopeful they will make the bookings but there’s just a lot of uncertainty at the moment.”

 

Jarvinen explained that profitability to date had been achieved through tighter cost control, increased efficiency of aircraft utilisation – which has meant the airline platform is now generating returns – and rationalisation of the network, such as streamlining in the Caribbean or stopping flying to China.

 

He said Virgin Atlantic would continue to grow but added: “We are looking for a modest growth rate. We will continue to improve the product – we might be able to share more on that in a couple of months’ time.”

 

Asked if that could mean new routes, he said it was a possibility, as well as customer service improvements.