Virgin rubs BA's nose in it

Only a few days after British Airways announced a £410m loss, rival Virgin Atlantic said its pre-tax profit had almost doubled.

Only a few days after British Airways announced a £410m pre-tax loss for the year to March, its worst result since privatisation, Sir Richard Branson's VirginAtlantic had some good news. The 25-year-old airline's pre-tax profit in the year to February almost doubled, growing from £35m last year to £68m.

Branson "has lost none of his touch for public relations", said Ian King in The Times. The results were released two months earlier than usual, suggesting that they were timed "to embarrass the old enemy". As for the figures, look beyond the press release and there is "cause for scepticism": last year's figure was after exceptional items, while this year's wasn't. Factor that in and the profit rise is "much less dramatic". Still, one plus point for the airline is that it clearly got its fuel hedging right something that BA "palpably failed" to do.

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