Virgin America brand flies off into the sunset
The final trace of Virgin America branding has disappeared underneath a new Alaska Airlines paint job.
The last Virgin branded plane, an Airbus A321neo, rolled out of the painting facility this week with its new livery, formally consigning the Virgin America brand to history.
It has taken Alaska three years to completely integrate the Virgin America business after buying the airline for $2.6 billion.
It received a single airline operating certificate from the FAA for Alaska Airlines and Virgin America earlier this year.
The acquisition came despite protests from Virgin Group chief Richard Branson, who helped build a distinctive brand in the US.
However, under the terms of the deal, Alaska is still paying royalties for the right to use the Virgin America brand if it wishes to do so in the future.
The branding deal was for a term of 25 years, so Alaska could potentially resurrect the brand name in years to come.
TravelMole Editorial Team
Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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