VIRGIN LOOKING TO BLUER SKIES
Virgin Blue says it remains well positioned to take advantage of an upturn in the economy despite posing a net loss of $160 million for the 2008/09 financial year as the carrier had foreshadowed in July.
Despite falling to a loss, revenue increased by 12.8 per cent to $2.64 billion for the year. Underlying earnings before interest, depreciation, amortisation and restructuring was $355 million. Group capacity increased by 19.3 per cent, while revenue passenger kilometres increased by 16 per cent. Load factor declined marginally to 79.1 per cent.
“While airlines have been variously impacted by the global economic crisis, our approach was to respond swiftly and definitively to softening domestic demand,” said CEO Brett Godfrey.
Operationally, the short haul business recorded an EBIT of $57 million, with passenger revenue 9.9 per cent to $2.36bn, and yield was lower by 2.4 per cent. “Yield improvement was seen through May to July, and while it cannot be considered a recovery at this stage it does indicate some stabilisation at least in the domestic markets,” the company said in a statement.
The gains in short haul were eaten up by losses from V Australia, reflecting both set up costs and the competitive Pacific market. The long haul operation recorded an EBIT loss after startup costs and foreign exchange of $124 million, on revenue of $69 million and load factor of 62.3 per cent. Nevertheless, the company noted that its product had been well received by customers, with passenger load factors exceeding 75 per cent during July.
Despite the loss, the company says it aims to be at breakeven over the next financial year with a positive cash inflow.
It also noted that with many of its capacity reductions coming from cutting frequencies rather than the overall fleet that it is well positioned to benefit from any upturn in the economy.

منبع مجله : Australia Aviation

http://australianaviation.com.au/express.htm