Alaska Airlines Works Fast to Erase Memories of Virgin America
Photo Credit: Jets once flown by Virgin America soon will get an upgrade to Alaska's new interior, shown above. Alaska Airlines
Skift Take
It can take some airlines as long as a decade after a merger before they truly operate as one entity. But Alaska Airlines is working much faster to gobble up Virgin America. Part of that is because both carriers were relatively small. But by any standard, Alaska is moving quickly.
Alaska Airlines is getting close to squeezing out the last vestiges of Virgin America, just about two years after closing an acquisition that made it the fifth-largest U.S. airline.
It’s a remarkably quick integration compared to Alaska’s four larger competitors, all of which took more time to combine two airlines into one during their recent mergers. Alaska is not done yet, but it is making steady progress.
For many former Virgin America employees and customers, this is sad news. Virgin America was around for only a decade, but it was beloved by many for its leather seats, friendly service, snazzy mood lighting and tech-forward approach. Employees liked it for what they thought was its special culture.
But for Alaska, which said Thursday it has c
