A thousand jobs are being created at Gatwick-based Virgin Atlantic.

The airline will take on 1,500 people - 500 to replace employees who are due to retire and 1,000 to staff new routes planned for Gatwick and Heathrow airports.

Up to 1,100 of the jobs will be for cabin crew, 150 will be for pilots and flight deck crew and 100 will be based at the firm's Crawley offices.

Virgin's founder Sir Richard Branson announced the Gatwick expansion yesterday at the launch event for a new route to Cuba and the Bahamas.

He said: "At a time when the airline industry is up against high oil prices with many struggling to survive, Virgin Atlantic added services to Sydney in December last year, Mumbai in March this year, Havana and Nassau this summer and will launch services between Manchester to Barbados later this year."

The extra jobs will increase the number of people working for the airline to 9,500.

Paul Griffiths, managing director of Gatwick's owner BAA, said: "I am delighted Virgin Atlantic is continuing to strengthen its base at Gatwick by providing new job opportunities.

"This is great news for the airport and the local economy.

"Today marks the launch of two new routes to Cuba and the Bahamas and is a further sign of Virgin Atlantic's continued confidence in growing its Gatwick network."

In April, Virgin launched a third weekly service from Gatwick to Port Harcourt, Nigeria, and by September it will add two extra weekly services between Gatwick and Las Vegas.

A fortnight ago, the airline posted its best profits performance in six years, despite losing £60 million to higher fuel costs.

The company reported pre-tax profits of £68 million, compared with £20.9 million for the previous ten months.

Turnover rose from £1.27 billion to £1.63 billion.

Last year Virgin slapped a fuel surcharge on air fares due to high oil prices.

The carrier denied it was a tool to boost profits, saying it only recovered one-third of the additional costs it faced during the year.

June 28, 2005