Alaska Airlines To Drop Virgin America Brand by 2019
Photo Credit: Alaska Airlines is planning to retrofit its cabins beginning next year. Alaska Airlines
Skift Take
The big surprise would have been if Alaska Airlines kept the Virgin America brand. This isn't a big deal, and it's nice that Alaska will be upgrading many of its products in the next three years. New Wi-Fi can't come soon enough.
Alaska Airlines said Wednesday it expects to retire Virgin America's brand sometime in 2019, a decision that may disappoint the upstart carrier's loyal customers, but one that will surprise few industry insiders.
Companies rarely operate two airline brands, and when they do it's often for reasons of national pride. Air France and KLM are one entity, but the two carriers operate separately, in part because no one is sure French customers would fly an airline with a Dutch name.
Generally the acquiring airline — in this case Alaska Airlines — absorbs the other carrier, a more efficient approach that leads to greater cost savings. Sometimes the acquiring airline will adopt the other airline's name if its brand is st
