Virgin America “best consumer airline” in US: Branson

Alaska Airlines has announced that it will retire the Virgin America brand by the close of 2019, absorbing the assets of the airline into its own fleet.

Alaska Airlines acquired the airline last year for US$2 billion, allowing the airline to expand its route network to include 1200 daily departures, as well as gaining a stronger presence in San Fran and LA.

The acquisition has not only gifted Alaska Airlines both San Francisco and Los Angeles gates occupied by Virgin America, but also its landing rights in Washington and New York, while knocking out a West Coast competitor completely.

“While the Virgin America name is beloved to many, we concluded that to be successful on the West Coast we had to do so under one name — for consistency and efficiency,” Sangita Woerner, Alaska’s vice president of marketing, said in a statement.

Richard Branson’s open letter

Virgin Group CEO Richard Branson, who was recently named the CEO Aussies most want to work with, has penned a ‘Dear Virgin America’ letter, where he farewelled his beloved US airline.

“[Alaska Airlines] has a very different business model and sadly, it could not find a way to maintain its own brand and that of Virgin America,” he wrote.

“Remember launch day – August 8th, 2007 – when even an epic tornado didn’t stop our brilliant team getting our first flight an on-time departure?” he lamented.

“The legacy airlines kept trying to stop us flying. But we won over people in Newark, Chicago and Boston in similar fashion. We grew to more than 25 cities, swept every single major consumer travel award and became profitable.

“Even if the industry ‘experts’ did not, you and your guests always believed that an airline can stay in business by delivering a better flying experience.

“We went through a lot together. It was a long and hard journey but in the end you are the best consumer airline in America.

“You invented concepts like ‘moodlighting’ and ‘on-demand food,’ you reinvented cabin amenities from seat-to-seat chat to Netflix in the sky. You chose warm and soothing pink to purple moodlighting that transitions based on outside light.

“You proved it is possible to run a business with a strategy that does not rely on low fares and a dominant position alone: you attracted premium flyers with a fun and beautiful guest experience. You created the world’s most loved safety video.

“You proved that it is possible to create a business with a terrific culture and a brand that people love.”

So what will change?

Alaska Airlines has announced it will begin refreshing all its cabins next year, while adding new seats and amenities, along with fresh uniforms for customer-facing staff.

The Virgin America aircraft will farewell their eight-seat first class cabin, which has more recline and legroom than other US airlines. Instead, Alaska will put four more seats in the cabin, and whittle down the seat pitch from 55 to 41 inches.

Alaska will, per Skift, upgrade elite frequent flyers to unsold first class seats free of charge, which is a practice not ever used under Virgin America operations.

Former Virgin America planes will also snag 18 new seats with extra legroom and complimentary alcohol.

Alaska is also going to ramp up its Wi-Fi offerings from 2018, and given both Alaska and Virgin America had some of the slowest inflight Wi-Fi this upgrade couldn’t come soon enough for passengers.

Alaska will also overhaul and revamp its Seattle, Portland and LA lounges, while new ones will crop up in San Fran and New York JFK.

Image from Virgin America

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Alaska Airlines richard branson virgin america