Three years after Alaska Airlines acquired Virgin America, the last remaining Airbus wearing the red and white Virgin livery is being repainted this week in Alaska’s cool blues.
Alaska’s takeover of Virgin America happened in 2016, but the company kept Virgin operating as a separate brand until about a year ago. Once it decided to combine the two brands, Virgin’s 71 Airbus jets had to be repainted in Alaska’s colors. The lengthy process has finally wound down to its final step, in the form of a Virgin America Airbus A321neo that is going under the brush this week. The next time anyone sees it, it will be an Alaska Airlines A321neo. But paint is only skin-deep.
Most of the passenger cabins in the Virgin fleet are still decked out in black leather, white plastic and purple mood lighting, which admittedly is getting a little tatty. But that’s changing, too.
At this time, 10 Virgin jets have been made over with new interiors, according to CEO Brad Tilden, who said in a recent SFGATE interview that the new interiors are getting positive reviews from regular fliers.
“We are doubling the number of first class seats, adding footrests, cup and iPad holders, larger overhead bins and much faster 2Ku gate-to-gate wi-fi to these planes,” he said, adding that the move will provide more opportunities for Alaska Mileage Plan members to snag upgrades.
Looks like it’s N922VA. It’s currently at Victorville. I noticed I’ve been seeing less and less Virgin America liveries. Can’t believe how fast they’ve been repainted. Very surprised Alaska Airlines isn’t keeping one unpainted livery as a company memento.
I guess the ‘More to Love’ liveries on the 737-900 and A321neo are just that, in a way. I heard those liveries are going away though.
I live near Victorville and every weekend we would go and see what new Alaska planes were leaving with a fresh coat of paint and what Virgin America planes were flying in for painting I’ve seen a lot of the Virgin planes be repainted now, and to see the last one go is almsot sad, an airline that wanted to bring new things for domestic travel wasn’t able to do it and was bought out
It’s a shame, Alaska can never match Virgin, even these new cabins are still far from what Virgin offered. Virgin’s business model was truly what made it such a great airline. Maybe Richard Branson will go for round 2!
Alaska does a great job (I primarily fly with them and my company uses them) I never had a bad experience besides anytime going into SEA no matter where I am coming from lol
I flew virgin once last year. I’m a big Alaska fan, I fly Alaska a lot, but it’s kinda sad to see Virgin America go. I was also hoping that maybe they would keep one VX jet in virgin colors to be a special livery to remember Virgin America, like AA did with their US Airways A321 heritage livery. N922VA is the tail number of the last VX airbus currently in paint.
I don’t know why but I think it would have been a better idea to leave some Virgin America liveries and just have it under the callsign of Alaska Airlines.
The final airplane in the VX colors getting repainted in VCV right now, N922VA. I saw this airplane flying to VCV a few days ago and I just had to say good bye to this livery. Sad to see this livery go.
And I have flown on VX before and let me tell you, their service is like none other. Friendly crew, the #VXSafetyDance, the mood lighting, the unique airplane chimes, the RED theme, etc. I love that airline. Probably my favorite airline that doesn’t fly to SJC (VX used to go to SJC but stopped service in 2013)
Sadly the Virgin Business Model for North America wasn’t that great otherwise they wouldn’t have been bought out by Alaska Airlines. Shame to see them go though.
When I first saw this topic I thought it said “Virgin Atlantic flight disappears from skies”! I’m still trying to catch my breath!
As for Virgin America, Alaska although a great airline won’t be able to have a product as great as Virgin America. This is one of the few airlines that I actually miss 😥
