Alaska Airlines has confirmed it will drop the Virgin America brand name within the next two years.
Although the name will disappear, Alaska ‘will adopt many of the brand elements that Virgin America enthusiasts love about their favourite airline’ it said.
These include its in-flight entertainment, mood lighting and music.
“The goal is to create a warm and welcoming West Coast-inspired vibe,” Alaska added.
It is a big blow to Virgin’s army of loyal fans.
“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,” said Sangita Woerner, Alaska’s vice president of marketing.
The demise of the Virgin America brand will take place ‘sometime in 2019’.
Alaska currently pays licensing fees equal to 0.7% of revenue to Richard Branson’s Virgin Group for the use of the Virgin name.
