Dozens of cabin crew jobs will be created when an airline doubles its services to the Caribbean next year.

Virgin Atlantic plans to launch direct weekly services between Gatwick and Tobago and Grenada from May 2003.

It will also launch a weekly Manchester to Barbados service in winter 2003.

The airline will also expand its existing services between Gatwick and Barbados, St Lucia and Antigua.

The new flights will help boost passenger numbers at Gatwick, which have been climbing steadily since September 11 and will create jobs for people in the Gatwick and Crawley area.

A spokeswoman for Virgin Atlantic said: "We did have a massive recruitment drive about four months ago and we are back on the recruiting drive at the moment.

"We are also recruiting generally around the company.

"Whenever we have new routes it means new cabin crew are needed although we can't say how many at this stage."

The expansion means Virgin Atlantic will be offering almost 6,500 seats each week by winter 2003.

Chairman Richard Branson said: "I am delighted Virgin Atlantic is extending the services it offers.

"We entered the Caribbean market in 1998, introducing services between Gatwick and Barbados, Antigua and St Lucia and by the end of this year we will have flown more than one million passengers on the Caribbean routes."

The new weekly service from Gatwick to Tobago and then on to Grenada will depart on Monday mornings and be operated by Boeing 747.

The return service will depart from both islands on Monday evening and arrive at Gatwick early on Tuesdays.

Amanda Wills, managing director of Virgin Holidays, said: "Our programme to the Caribbean has proved hugely successful and we are very excited about being able to expand further."

Virgin also announced it made a pre-tax loss of £92 million, in line with an announcement made in May, which was attributed to "exceptional items arising out of the tragic events of September 11".

The turnover for the year was £1.416 billion and the airline carried four million passengers.

The group hopes to return to profitability this year.