Articles tagged “alaska airlines”

It'll be interesting to see how many of Virgin America's corporate travel partners stick around once Alaska Airlines begins to chip away at the brand's sterling identity.

While Alaska Airlines executives talked around whether they would eliminate the Virgin America brand and loyalty programs, the subtext indicates it's only a matter of time until Virgin America's fleet is rolled into the Alaska brand.

At least, as a strategy to eliminate competition and quickly acquire hard assets and frontline employees, this acquisition could prove profitable to Alaska Airlines. That's assuming JetBlue doesn’t get to disenfranchised customers first.

If you take Delta at its word, then fears that the introduction of Basic Economy fares to compete with the ultra-low-cost carriers on price would dilute the spend of usually higher-paying passengers haven't been borne out. Still, the situation is fluid as other legacy carriers are set to introduce these discounted fares, as well.

JetBlue management is obviously upset that it couldn't consummate the deal with Virgin America because of the key importance of transcontinental expansion. But JetBlue didn't want a merger at any price and now it is going to play hardball in trying to steal away Virgin America's potentially alienated customers.

All signs point to JetBlue making a meal of this Alaska Air/Virgin America situation. Butter the popcorn and watch this space.

First let's get the record straight, we were totally wrong about Delta wanting to add Virgin America as a boutique property to its collection. In the end, Alaska Airlines got it and we’re just not sure what Alaska will do with it; it would seem Alaska isn’t sure either.

The Alaska Airlines-Virgin America deal synergies won't be of the Expedia-Travelocity or Expedia-Orbitz type, where the majority of staff members of the acquired companies got pink slips. Virgin America's front-line employees should do well from a job security standpoint but a considerable number of back-of-the-house staff will have something to worry about.

Alaska Air and Virgin America can rightly argue that they need a marriage to compete with the likes of Delta, America, United and Southwest. JetBlue, meanwhile, which made an unsuccessful bid, gets left out in the cold.

The combined Alaska Airlines-Virgin America would give it the leadership position in seat share on the U.S. west coast, make it the fifth largest carrier in the country, and put it in a better position to compete with the legacy carriers.