Virgin Atlantic reported a pre-tax profit of ?41.6 million ($75.6 million) for the fiscal year ended Feb. 28, more than double the ?20.1 million earned a year ago, a jump it attributed to a "large increase" in business passengers at primary subsidiary Virgin Atlantic Airways.The company, also parent to Virgin Nigeria Airways and tour operator Virgin Holidays, posted annual revenues of ?1.91 billion, up 17.2% from ?1.63 billion in the previous fiscal year.

Virgin said premium-paying passengers, who increased 10.1% over the prior year, provided a big earnings boost. "The profits came despite a tougher operating environment, with a 30% increase in fuel costs over the year and continuing overcapacity on some routes, especially between the UK and the North Atlantic," it said in a statement. Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Nigeria carried a combined 4.9 million passengers for the year, up 11%.

Virgin Atlantic plans to continue expanding its services, adding a fourth daily London Heathrow-New York JFK flight on July 1 and a second daily LHR-Hong Kong flight from February 2007--it will operate a second flight four-times-weekly on the route from November 2006. It will launch LHR-Montego Bay service July 3 and plans to begin operating twice-weekly 747-400 flights between London Gatwick and Mauritius from November 2007. Montego Bay and Mauritius will become the 27th and 28th destinations in its network.

Meanwhile, the airline provided no more details on the UK-US price-fixing investigation of British Airways that reportedly was triggered by a tip-off from Virgin (ATWOnline, June 26). "We are fully cooperating with the authorities. We are assisting them," Virgin Atlantic CEO Steve Ridgway told BBC Monday. "I suspect this will go on a long time and that is really all I am at liberty to say at the moment."

A high-profile US law firm filed a class-action suit against BA and Virgin on June 23 following press reports of the UK-US probe. The lawsuit accuses the airlines of engaging in a "global conspiracy" to fix prices on long-haul flights to and from the UK.