The airline, partly owned by U.S. carrier Delta Air Lines Inc, said loss before tax and exceptional items was 28.4 million pounds ($39.60 million) for the year ended Dec. 31.

It earned 23 million pounds a year earlier.

Virgin Atlantic said total group revenue fell 1 percent to 2.7 billion pounds last year.

The company said it flew 5.3 million passengers in 2017, 0.1 million fewer than in 2016, while its load factor slipped to 78.3 percent from 78.7 percent.

($1 = 0.7172 pounds)

(Reporting by Radhika Rukmangadhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)