Budget airline Virgin Australia said Thursday it more than doubled its first-half net profits as it picked up business from rival Qantas which grounded its entire fleet for two days in October.
Australia's number-two carrier said net profit for the six months to December rose to $Aus51.8 million (US$55 million) from $Aus23.8 million a year earlier, a 118 percent spike.
In the same period Qantas profits slumped 83 percent to Aus$42 million due to high fuel costs and the dramatic fleet grounding triggered by a labour dispute.
Virgin's total revenue rose 18 percent to Aus$2.0 billion.
Chief executive John Borghetti said the airline had made significant progress on diversifying its revenue sources and had boosted its market share in business travel by forging new international alliances.
He said yields had grown 13.7 percent across its domestic business and 11.5 percent across the group as a whole.
"Today's financial results demonstrate that our strategy to reposition the business is having a material impact on the company's financial position ahead of schedule," he said in a statement.
Citing the uncertain economic environment, Virgin said it was unable to offer specific earnings guidance for the full year, saying only that it expected an improvement in underlying performance.
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