Alaska Buys Virgin America

"f86sabre" (f86sabre) 04/04/2016 at 09:44 • Filed to: Planelopnik, airlines, virgin, alaska

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Well, this should be interesting to watch. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! for $2.6B. This will make the carrier the 5th largest in the US and will strengthen it in the west coast market. Alaska, which flies a fleet of 737s in its mainline operation, will take on the approximently 60 A320s operated by Virgin. The leadership teams for both carriers are just starting to look at how they will integrate the brands, cultures and equipment.

The head of the Virgin global brand, Richard Branson, has !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! While he bemoans the loss of an independent carrier, he acknowledges that the rough US market drove them to this place. I would also wonder if Delta’s growing pressure on Alaska’s west coast operations have helped move this purchase along. I think it had to. Alaska will face a number of hurdles to get their work groups together and to obtain their single operating certificate. Neither are easy things to make happen, but they do benefit from having some good people in key roles. This should be interesting to watch.

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > f86sabre 04/04/2016 at 09:46

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They’re going to start having flights to nowhere.

TheHondaBro > f86sabre 04/04/2016 at 09:47

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I guess they’re no longer Virgins?

f86sabre > TheHondaBro 04/04/2016 at 10:08

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They never really were.

ttyymmnn > f86sabre 04/04/2016 at 10:12

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Things are indeed getting more interesting...........

area man > f86sabre 04/04/2016 at 10:23

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I travel to LA from NYC a lot and often Virgin is the cheapest nonstop ticket, or close enough that the in flight experience makes up the difference. Flights are always full and I figured undercutting everyone on that route alone would bring enough business to stay afloat. But then again I don’t know much about the airline biz...

f86sabre > area man 04/04/2016 at 11:41

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It is a fine balance between filling your plane with low cost seats and generating enough profit margin to make the routes and business viable. Running an airline is expensive even with fuel prices low.

For Sweden > f86sabre 04/04/2016 at 11:43

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Hey I have an idea let’s be an exclusively-Boeing airline and buy a bunch of Airbuses

f86sabre > For Sweden 04/04/2016 at 11:52

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I resemble that remark. They can make it work. Just a question if they want to. There is already talk that Boeing will help AS get rid of the 320s. I wonder where they would end up? I know an airline that likes to buy other carriers unwanted planes and then use them to beat on that carrier. What DL has done with the 717 is a case in point. The deal on those was crazy.

For Sweden > f86sabre 04/04/2016 at 11:56

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They’ll probably go to Frontier

Braniff747SP > f86sabre 04/04/2016 at 12:44

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Folks have been saying for years—since day 1—that VX would fail, so on and so forth.

That didn’t happen, but obviously investors thought they’d get the most bang for their buck by selling out instead of preserving the airline as a standalone business. That’s telling.

Regardless, If UA paid $22 million for each 737, I don’t think we’ll see AS flying Airbus for too long.

Pistol Whipped Cream > Braniff747SP 04/04/2016 at 14:46

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Jetblue would have been fine with the Airbuses... So close.

Braniff747SP > Pistol Whipped Cream 04/04/2016 at 15:56

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All but 5 (IIRC) are leases. Not a big deal.

Whole bunch of money to spend, though.

PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power > f86sabre 04/07/2016 at 02:59

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my family and I regularly fly alaskan, and i cannot say enough nice things about the company. we’ve never had a bad experience on an Alaskan flight. If they mange to translate the friendly, down to earth and sociable nature that i’ve seen from alaskan to virgin, i think it’ll be a good brand. otherwise, when it comes to planes, as a Seattleite, i say get rid of those old airbusses, and buy up some boing jets!