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Virgin Atlantic Airways today announced a year on year increase in premium
traffic of 10% in the three months August - October. In markets which remain
very tough the airline said that the increase is driven by a mixture of Virgin's capacity growth
and a significant market share shift from BA to Virgin. The trading period is
the crucial quarter in the airline industry as business travellers return
following the summer.
Commenting on the figures
Sir Richard Branson, Chairman of Virgin Atlantic said:
"These are encouraging figures which suggest both the beginning of the
recovery of the business travel market and the early signs of a market share
shift to Virgin since the launch of our new Upper Class Suite. However, our
yields are down on previous years forcing us to maintain a tight control of
our costs.
"Although we've yet to fit our new Upper Class Suite across the fleet the halo
effect of our revolutionary new seat is already at work and we're seeing real
market share shift from the American carriers and BA in the last few months.
It gives us real confidence that across our network our new Upper Class Suite will help us take £100million of revenue per year from BA.
"Our new Upper Class Suite is now flying daily to and from New York and
with the retirement of Concorde we expect Virgin's Upper Class to be the
natural replacement for Concorde travellers as well as BA's and other airlines' First and business class passengers.
"Even though the market has been weak in recent months we're making a
conscious decision to invest now in new products and new planes to take advantage of the returning market. As we move towards further growth in the
business travel market in simple terms our bigger beds will give us a bigger
share of a bigger market."
Sir
Richard also spoke about the general state of the long haul travel market:
"In the last couple of years the long haul market has been battered by
adversity and has seen a real drop in revenue. What all airlines need now is a
period of stability, free from any new turbulence, to allow an improved return
on our investment. Fortunately, for the first time in months, the early signs
are that better times may be ahead." |
