Virgin America Reports $48 Million Operating Loss for 2009

Virgin America reported its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year for 2009. For the full year, Virgin America reported a $48 million operating loss on revenues of $548 million -- a $140 million (or 74 percent) year-over-year improvement over 2008.

In 2009, the company also reported its first quarterly operating profit in the third quarter. For the fourth quarter the airline reported a $10 million operating loss on revenues of $153 million, an improvement of 51 percent over the fourth quarter of 2008.

Although the revenue and demand environment remained challenging in the final quarter of 2009, Virgin America reported strong revenue performance, industry-leading load factors, and improved unit costs for the fourth quarter. The airline narrowed its operating loss by $11 million year-over-year in the fourth quarter, improving its operating margin by 10.9 points.

Virgin America also reported a 47 percent increase in scheduled service capacity year-over-year. It reported an 84.3 percent load factoring the fourth quarter of 2009 -- a 3.1 point improvement over the fourth quarter of 2008, despite a 47 percent increase in scheduled service capacity for the quarter.

David Cush, the airline’s president and CEO, said he was pleased with the progress the airline has made in operating income, unit costs and unit revenue in our second full year of operations. “Given both the recession and the fact that 2009 was one of the most challenging airline revenue environments in recent memory, we’re proud of how far we have come,” he said.