Virgin Atlantic sees profitability returning in 2024, later than expected

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Virgin Atlantic warned it would not return to profitability until 2024, pushing back its previous forecast of this year, as a weaker pound, rising costs and higher interest rates offset strong demand for travel.

For 2022, Virgin Atlantic posted a pretax loss of 206 million pounds ($256 million) on revenues which came in at 2.9 billion pounds, recovering to 98% of levels last seen in 2019 before the pandemic shut travel markets.

Virgin, founded by billionaire Richard Branson and 51% owned by Branson's Virgin Group with the balance held by Delta Air Lines, said that summer bookings were ahead of expectations.

($1 = 0.7923 pounds)

(Reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by Kate Holton)