Virgin Australia has built on its FY23 return to profitability, delivering an even stronger performance in FY24. Underlying EBIT rose by 18.2% to AU$519 million, despite facing challenges such as supply chain constraints, unprecedented industry inflation and strong competition. The group’s result represents an underlying EBIT margin of 9.7%, up from 8.8% in FY23.
The airline’s core business—which includes domestic, short-haul international, and regional/charter services—reported revenue of AU$5.1 billion, marking a 5.6% increase. Underlying EBIT for the airline was AU$392 million, up 8.2%, with a margin of 7.6%. This margin includes group overheads, a legacy contract with Velocity and significant salary investments for frontline staff during FY24.
Virgin Australia’s Velocity Frequent Flyer programme also performed strongly, recording AU$409 million in revenue—an impressive 23.8% rise. Underlying EBIT reached AU$115 million, with a margin of 28.2%. Velocity saw a 13% increase in active members, growing its membership base to 12 million.
The airline’s ongoing transformation agenda, now in its fourth year, has been pivotal in returning to profitability. Key focus areas include revenue management, ancillary revenue, digital enhancements, fleet reconfiguration, operational productivity, and ongoing cost reductions. Velocity also expanded its partnerships and products, boosting member engagement and programme efficiency.
In FY24, Virgin Australia continued to invest in fuel-efficient aircraft and customer-focused innovations. Notable developments included introducing baggage tracking across domestic and international networks and launching a self-service disruption management tool, Rapid Rebook. Over 500,000 customers have already used this tool for rebooking.
Virgin Australia Chief Executive Officer, Jayne Hrdlicka commented: “Virgin Australia has delivered a very strong performance in FY24. This is our second consecutive year of after-tax profit following the FY23 milestone of returning the business to profitability for the first time in 11 years. This strong performance demonstrates the ongoing success of our transformation journey, despite what has been a challenging year for our industry.” (US$1.00 = AU$1.49 at time of publication).
