Aug 28 (Reuters) - Virgin Australia said on Friday it expected to trim domestic capacity by 3% in line with rival Qantas Airways in the first half, supporting revenue growth, after reporting better-than-expected full-year earnings.
Australia's No. 2 airline reported underlying net profit after tax of A$404 million ($290.64 million) for the 12 months ended June 30, up 21.9% from a year earlier, beating Visible Alpha's consensus estimate of A$383.4 million.
The profit was driven by strong travel demand
and its transformation program aimed at boosting pricing, loyalty earnings and efficiency, as well as solid fuel hedging.
It also declared a fully franked dividend of 7.6 Australian cents a share, its first dividend since relisting in 2025.
"We delivered strong earnings growth and further margin expansion despite significant inflationary pressure across the aviation supply chain and a more challenging operating environment," Virgin Australia CEO Dave Emerson said.
The airline also forecast first-half revenue per available seat kilometre (RASK) growth ahead of market expectations, underscoring resilient travel demand and disciplined capacity management.
Virgin Australia said RASK, a key measure of revenue earned from each seat flown, is expected to grow between 6% and 8% in the six months ending December 2026, ahead of the Visible Alpha consensus estimate of around 5.15%.
Qantas said on Thursday that its total revenue per available seat kilometre would rise by 8% to 10% in the same half, also ahead of analyst expectations. That measure also includes baggage and other fees and charter revenue as well as taking into account the percentage of seats filled.
($1 = 1.3900 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Sherin Sunny and Rajasik Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Joyjeet Das and Jamie Freed)
