Last year Alaska Airlines acquired Virgin Airlines for $2.6 billion, and now they’re dropping the Virgin name entirely.
Alaska Airline’s vice president of marketing, Sangita Woerner explained the choice.
“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.”
Alaska is also planning to roll out new uniforms, a new cabin design with blue mood lighting, and free in-flight entertainment.
Sir Richard Branson wrote an emotional letter about losing the name he created.
“This was the ride and love of a lifetime. I feel very lucky to have been on it with all of you. I’m told some people at Virgin America are calling today ‘the day the music died.’ It is a sad (and some would say baffling) day. But I’d like to assure them that the music never dies.”
