Alaska Airlines and Virgin America share vision for future carrier

Alaska Airlines and Virgin America shared (22-Mar-2017) their plans for the future of the combined carrier, noting they will adopt Alaska's name and logo, and retire the Virgin America name likely sometime in 2019. Alaska will spend the next few years making the following enhancements and incorporating elements of the Virgin America experience:

• The new Alaska brand personality to arrive throughout 2017, as the carrier seeks to create a "modern, warm and welcoming vibe";
• Alaska to debut a redesigned cabin with new seats and amenities in 2018, with a number of select Boeing aircraft already retrofitted;
• Uniforms designed by Luly Yang to roll out in mid-2019 for flight attendants, customer service agents, pilots, mechanics and ground crew;
• Alaska's entire fleet of 737 passenger aircraft to be equipped with high-speed satellite WiFi beginning in autumn 2018, with the remainder of the Airbus fleet to follow. Both fleets are expected to be fully satellite-equipped by the end of 2019;
• Premium seating to be expanded across the Airbus fleet beginning in 4Q2018, with the number of first class seats to increase by 50%. The redesigned Airbus cabins will also feature 18 new premium class seats with 35 inches of pitch and complimentary beer, wine and cocktails;
• Alaska's mileage plan to become sole loyalty programme for both carriers in 2018;
• Elite loyalty members to receive complimentary upgrades, with mileage plan MVP golds and above to be upgrade to first or premium class 75% of the time. Complimentary upgrades on Airbus aircraft will debut in late 2018;
• Free inflight entertainment to become a permanent feature on its Boeing fleet effective immediately, expanding to Airbus aircraft in Aug-2017;
• Alaska's free chat feature to expand to Airbus-operated services in Aug-2017;
• Alaska first class passengers able to pre-select meals before they fly by Jun-2017, followed by main cabin passengers in early 2018. Food pre-ordering will be extended to Airbus flights sometime in the future;
• Refreshed and expanded airport lounges in Seattle, Portland and Los Angeles to open by early 2019, alongside lounges San Francisco and New York JFK. The expansion plans will double the square footage of Alaska's airport lounges.

VP of marketing Sangita Woerner stated: "We spent the last 10 months conducting extensive research and listening carefully to what fliers on the West Coast want most. 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, and to allow us to continue to deliver low fares". [more - original PR]