Virgin Atlantic sees profitability returning in 2024, later than expected

Britain's Virgin Atlantic warned it would not return to profitability until 2024, pushing back its previous forecast of this year, as a weaker pound, rising costs and higher interest rates offset strong demand for travel.

For 2022, Virgin Atlantic posted a pretax loss of 206 million pounds ($256 million) on revenues which came in at 2.9 billion pounds, recovering to 98% of levels last seen in 2019 before the pandemic shut travel markets.

Virgin, founded by billionaire Richard Branson and 51% owned by Branson's Virgin Group with the balance held by Delta Air Lines, said that summer bookings were ahead of expectations. ($1 = 0.7923 pounds)