Virgin Atlantic Cargo today reported an increase in revenue for the 2011/12 financial year despite difficult trading conditions. A 7% year-on-year growth to '239.6 million represents the best-ever financial performance of the cargo division in its 28-year history.

The result was driven by an increase in yield of 12%, with overall tonnage down by 5% year-on-year. Performance was strong both in the Europe, Middle East and Africa and the Americas regions, each reporting increases in revenue of 13% and 15% respectively over the 12 months. However, given the challenging market conditions and lack of a traditional peak season in some Far East markets, revenues from the Asia-Pacific region declined by 7% in 2011/12 compared to the previous year.

Virgin Atlantic Cargo's revenue from joint venture partners, notably its partnership with Virgin Australia, continued to perform strongly, up by 25% thanks to significant increases in tonnage and yield. Freight volumes on Virgin Australia's transpacific operations from the United States to Australia contributed to the performance.

John Lloyd, Director of Virgin Atlantic Cargo, said: '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. A five per cent increase in our yield premium and substantial improvements in our cost base represent the fruits of our efforts and underpin another tremendous result.'

Steve Ridgway, Chief Executive, Virgin Atlantic added: 'I am extremely proud of the Virgin Atlantic Cargo team for delivering another great contribution to the airline in what is a very difficult and challenging market.'