Virgin America posts $340.5 million net profit in 2015

Virgin America reported a 2015 net income of $340.5 million, a more than fivefold increase over a $60.1 million net profit for 2014.

Virgin president and CEO David Cush said, “We achieved the highest net income in company history, generated significant operating cash flow, continued to outperform the industry in domestic unit revenue growth, and began growing the airline again.”

Virgin’s 2015 revenue increased 2.7% year-over-year to $1.53 billion, while expenses were down 3% to $1.352 billion, producing an operating profit of $177.2 million, up 83.8% year-over-year. Its annual aircraft fuel expenses decreased 30.3% to $347.7 million.

The California-based carrier’s 2015 traffic was up 3.6% year-over-year to 10.44 RPMs on a 3.7% increase in capacity to 12.69 ASMs, producing a load factor of 82.2%, down 0.1 point year-over-year. Yield fell 1.4% to 13.06 cents.

Virgin America is scheduled to take delivery of two Airbus A320 aircraft during the first quarter of 2016. The carrier said it expects capacity, as measured by available seat miles, to increase 14% to 16% for the first quarter of 2016 compared to the year-ago quarter.