Cargo-related revenue reached a total of £239.6 million (US$374.3 million) and that figure represented the best financial performance of the Virgin cargo division’s 28-year history.

It was largely the result of an improvement in yield of 12 percent year-on-year, Virgin Atlantic Cargo pointed out, being achieved despite a 5 percent year-on-year fall in freight volumes.

Revenue accruing from the Americas market rose by 15 percent over the previous financial year, while revenue from Europe, the Middle East and Africa increased by 13 percent.

The only weakness was the Asia - Pacific region, in which revenue fell by 7 percent.

John Lloyd, Virgin Atlantic Cargo director, remarked: “What marks this result as particularly significant is that it was achieved in the context of both a marginal decline in our share of capacity and in a year when total market volumes failed to grow.

“At the root of our second successive year of record cargo revenues was a series of internal initiatives designed to improve our efficiency,” he said.

“A 5 percent increase in our yield premium and substantial improvements in our cost base represent the fruits of our efforts and underpin another tremendous result,” Lloyd pointed out.

Virgin Atlantic’s CEO, Steve Ridgway, said he was extremely proud of the Virgin cargo team for “delivering another great contribution to the airline in what is a very difficult and challenging market”.

The parent carrier’s revenue rose by 3 percent year-on-year. However, the Group still made an operating loss in the face of what it described as uncertainty in the market, high fuel prices and a significant rise in air passenger duty fees.

Virgin Atlantic is expecting to receive six A330 widebody aircraft this year, while the carrier’s network expansion is seeing the launch of new services to Vancouver, Cancún and Mumbai.