Since John joined Virgin, the company has suffered losses of more than $1B. It has survived by continued capital injection by a few key shareholders. Had these investments not occur - we would not see Virgin today. With the share price at $2.07 in 2007, to current day levels of around $0.20, it has hovered on average to under $0.50. That's a 900% devaluation in the stock over the last 10 years - not good at all.
However, it is pleasing to see that it can now report free cash flow (so critical for business), and it is paying down debt. And the underlying performance for the last fiscal was its best yet. Sustainable earnings growth will now be essential, as we see market softening. It still has a 'way' to go.
With restrictions on Chinese capital outflow, and Etihad' own financial woes - they're going to need to be self-sustaining in the coming years.
Virgin had to do something, and I don't feel John's "game changer" program was the wrong thing to do. What they did not do well was estimate the time it would take to return positive results. That took a few years longer than anticipated. Virgin is very lucky it was saved by the capital raising it did. Very lucky.