Virgin Australia has said its business will continue to improve but that will remain cautious amid economic uncertainty.

During Tuesday’s annual general meeting for shareholders in Brisbane company officials said that underlying profit figures for the first three months in 2011-2012 were larger than profits achieved in the quarter prior. However, the company said despite optimism that it did not have clear advice for the upcoming months.

VA chief executive John Borghetti said during a slideshow that the airline was building ‘significant momentum’ thanks to its ongoing campaign to poach a larger number of Australian business and government travelers from longstanding market dominator Qantas. He went on to say that the firm now had a foundation for future growth.

The news comes in contrast to Virgin Australia’s 2010-2011 results, when the airline posted AUD $67.8 million (£43 million) in losses.

However, chairman Neil Chatfield said during the meeting that although the airline was amid improvement that it would continue to endure ‘challenging’ conditions in upcoming months and that it was hard to predict how current financial woes around the world would unfold in the near future.

Among other announcements, Virgin also said it would be soon be hiring 250 new cabin crewmembers for jobs based largely at New South Wales Airports and that it would be updating its internationally commissioned aircraft in 2012.