Virgin Atlantic owners Sir Richard Branson and Delta have pumped another £400m into the struggling carrier, as the spread of the Omicron variant and growing travel restrictions spread gloom around airline investors.
Red list travel restrictions have forced Virgin to scrap the reopening of key South African winter sun routes, as well as hitting its Lagos service, while the reintroduction of PCR testing for all travellers to the UK has hit the sector more broadly.
While Virgin had been recently boosted by the reopening of the transatlantic route, and insists it anticipates a return to profitability from 2023, Branson and Delta have had to dig further to bolster the airline and allow it to pay down debt.
Shai Weiss, chief executive of Virgin
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