Sealink

https://www.ft.com/content/a81e071a-...e-cc62a39d57a0

Blaming weak pound, Rolls Royce and weather issues.

They don't expect to make a profit this year.

ri_us

I would guess that the discount airlines are also having an impact.

ajeleonard

Can't even make money by cherry picking the best routes out of Heathrow, one of the highest yielding markets in the world.

JD1905

I loved flying Virgin from the West Coast but they were ALWAYS at least 25% more expensive than other airlines. To a point where prices were not even competitive anymore. Interestingly this isn't so much the case if you were booking a return from London, rather than California. They should look into their pricing strategy for U.S based travellers and price up more competitively.

craigthemif

No short-haul network means that VS is hugely dependent on British passengers and a big % of the ticket fare goes to the exchequer (and LHR) as APD and airport charges. Thanks to Brexit the pound doesn't go nearly as far as it used to. Oil is up, substantially so in sterling terms. Norwegian is happy to steal the highly price-conscious travellers, with newer planes to boot.

No wonder SRB is selling...

ri_us

These statements are not accurate. Sterling is up substantially (in USD) and up a bit in Euros over the last 12 months. Brent is higher in the past year but still well below the period before 2014.

ri_us

I will pay up for Virgin on my regular route (JFK-LHR). Discounters might save me $100 but their times are not as attractive. For me, that's not worth it. And, I've already got my Flying Club plan in place that I can use to upgrade regularly.

craigthemif

Since the referendum (June 2016 1.50 USD:GBP) GBP is well down against USD. It's not even close to recovering although of course it is off of its lows. Brent priced in sterling is accordingly more expensive, although admittedly not as bad as the heights pre 2014.

Euros is entirely irrelevant for VS since very little of their costs or revenues will be in euros.

ri_us

I limited my observation of the direction of the currencies and Brent to the past 12 months as they cover 75% of the fiscal year in question.

sunshinebob

And the website update wont have helped..

craigthemif

GBP traded between $1.25 and $1.35 throughout 2017, only jumping at the end of the year really.

And fuel is often hedged in advance. So all VS had to do was buy much of 2017's fuel when sterling was at $1.25 and Brent in the mid-50s...

If you are going to call people's posts "not accurate", please do your homework first.

ri_us

Wow.

GUWonder

They don't dare blame Delta. How about blaming Norwegian and the Icelandic carriers?

ANstar

And this year will also see BA densifying their LGW fleet to offer more Y and Y+ seats adding more capacity onto routes that they compete.

Despite their relentless cost cutting over the past few years it looks like they can't make money when times are good and have a complex fleet 4 types soon to be 5 for only 38/39 aircraft.

StingWest

I book both VS and BA for my frequent trips TATL. I think VS could do a much better job with their website, in offering fares with "some" flexibility right up front. For example, I normally book business fares between the USA and London. On the website, both VS and BA offer non-refundable C fares in the same ballpark pricewise (although BA's have been trending lower than VS fares recently). But one trick BA has available on LHR flights is to offer F at a very small premium over C, but with the flights booking into a refundable A class. VS doesn't have the luxury (and burden) of offering an F fare, but should consider offering more flexible fares at a higher, but not exorbitant, price over the non-refundable cost, and display these options on the website. I have been booking BA exclusively for this reason for my last 4 C round-trips.

Fixing this pricing inflexibility, and VS's aging C seat design and layout, are two things that could be improved that might appeal more to the business traveler.