An increase in business travellers helped Sir Richard Branson's Crawley-based airline Virgin Atlantic more than double pre-tax profits last year.

The long-haul airline, which flies out of London and Manchester, posted a profit of £41.6 million for 2005-2006 on record sales of £1.91 billion.

Virgin said it carried almost five million passengers, more than ever, before announcing a new route from Gatwick to Mauritius starting next year.

The financial figures include the company's African business Virgin Nigeria Airways as well as the tour operator Virgin Holidays.

Virgin said its 9,000 staff would receive a bonus equivalent to two weeks' pay.

The results follow reports it was Virgin that "blew the whistle" on arch-rivals British Airways, which is now being investigated by the UK's Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and the US Department of Justice over alleged cartel activity involving BA and other airlines.

It is understood the investigation was triggered after claims BA sounded out Virgin about plans to increase its fuel surcharge to offset the cost of rising oil prices. According to competition law, it is illegal to pass information on planned price rises to competitors and Virgin subsequently tipped off the regulators.

Virgin and BA have refused to be drawn on the issue. Both have confirmed they are "assisting" with the joint UK-US probe into price fixing.

Speaking about the financial results, Virgin Atlantic chief executive Steve Ridgway said: "Virgin Atlantic's pioneering style of service continues to attract many new travellers.

"Our award-winning service is encouraging more business travellers to switch from other airlines, while the growing list of destinations we serve is ensuring our leisure travellers keep coming back to Virgin Atlantic.

"Against the backdrop of higher oil prices and tough competition, our people across the business have helped to deliver another strong performance."

Virgin announced its Mauritius service will operate twice a week from Gatwick from November 2007. Sir Richard said the service was being started due to overwhelming demand from leisure passengers.

He said: "This new route shows we are continuing to build a long-haul network with the ideal mix of business and leisure routes for today's traveller."

Tuesday, June 27, 2006