Virgin Atlantic banks on UK travel plan to revive network

Virgin Atlantic Airways said places tipped to be on a UK list of destinations set to reopen from mid-May could bring back a significant portion of its pre-coronavirus business, shrinking losses this year. The US, Israel and the Caribbean accounted for 80% of Virgin Atlantic’s 2019 network and could all feature on the list set to be revealed early next month, CFO Oliver Byers said after the carrier posted an adjusted pretax loss of GBP659m for 2020. While any move to restore US links is likely to be unilateral and allow Americans to visit the UK while not immediately permitting Britons to fly in the opposite direction, it would still be “very welcome in creating an ability for US nationals to travel,” Byers said. The carrier founded and controlled by billionaire Richard Branson is counting down the days to the hoped-for resumption of lucrative trans-Atlantic flights after the pandemic pushed it into a court-supervised restructuring last year. Byers said two rounds of financing and sales of aircraft mean it has liquidity to ride out the rest of the crisis even if markets are slower to return than now appears likely. “We’ve shown that we’re able to raise capital when we need to,” the CFO said. “We continue to explore ways we could do that in the future and opportunities that could arise.”<br/>