Virgin Atlantic: Brexit vote will lead to first loss for four years

Virgin Atlantic has announced it expects to post a loss for the current calendar year for the first time in four years.

Chief executive Craig Kreeger told the Daily Telegraph: "Our expectation for 2017 is to be loss making. We are busy working to try and make that not the case."

His comments came as the transatlantic carrier, which is backed by Sir Richard Branson, posted a £23m profit for 2016, up £500,000 on last year and the best return for five years.

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However, Kreeger said that would have been higher were it not for a £50m hit related to last year's Brexit vote, most notably the subsequent near-20 per cent slump in the value of the pound.

He said: "What we are seeing is leisure demand down as it's more expensive for Brits to go abroad. And our costs are up as both fuel and airplanes are paid for in dollars."

He added that the hit was offset by generally lower fuel prices - oil dropped to a 13-year low in the early part of 2016 and was subdued for the whole year - and a profit boost in its packaged holiday business.

This year, the company was going to leverage its US partner Delta, which owns 49 per cent of Virgin Atlantic, to "market the UK as a destination for inbound flights" to US travellers, Kreeger said.

It is also continuing to reduce costs and to invest in new planes.

Despite this, Virgin is currently projecting to fall well short of returning profit to close to £100m by the end of next year.

Kreeger said: "We were very much on track for it prior to June 23. It's definitely possible [we might make that target] but not based on current forecasts."