Today marks the end of another era in U.S. commercial aviation with the retirement of the Virgin America brand by the Alaska Airlines Group. In 2004, the Virgin Group announced the founding of Virgin USA, an American-based low-fare airline. After considering several locations, the Virgin Group chose the San Francisco Bay Area for the airline's main hub and corporate headquarters.
The airline began scheduled operations on August 8, 2007 with two inaugural flights on two city-pairs: San Francisco to New York and San Francisco to Los Angeles. From conception, Virgin America grew to serve 24 destinations at major cities across the United States. The airline began operations with Airbus A319s and A320s. In January 2011, the airline announced a firm order for new A320s, including the A320 and A321 neo models.
And on April 4, 2016, the Alaska Air Group announced that it had agreed to buy Virgin America for $2.6 billion, which included their debts and aircraft leases, for a net worth of approximately $4 billion. The merger was approved by shareholders in July 2016. Following approval from the Department of Justice, the merger was officially closed in December 2016. And on January 10, 2018 Virgin America flew its final flight under the "Redwood" callsign. On the following day, single operating certificate for the combined Alaska Airlines and Virgin America was issued by the FAA. The Alaska Air Group plans to have the entire Airbus fleet and Virgin America brand fully retired by 2019; until then, they are to continue to pay for licensing the Virgin brand from the Virgin Group.
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| Boeing 737-990/ER (N493AS) in the "More to Love" livery, celebrating the merger of the two airlines. This is probably the only time a 737 will sport anything to do with the Virgin America brand. While Alaska Airlines has remained upbeat about the merger and full intends to integrate certain features Virgin America was known for, no doubt many (including Richard Branson himself) are disappointed to see "Redwood" go away. |
In recognizing this merger, here is a montage of all the Virgin America Airbus aircraft I've photographed over the years:
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| Airbus A320-214 (N835VA), nicknamed "Arnold." |
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| Airbus A320-214 (N636VA), nicknamed "Airplane 2.0." |
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| Airbus A320-214 (N623VA), nicknamed "three if by air." |
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| Airbus A320-214 (N635VA), nicknamed "My other ride's a spaceship." |
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| Airbus A320-214 (N627VA), nicknamed "Runway Angel." |
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| Airbus A320-214 (N631VA), nicknamed "Chic Mobile." |
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| Airbus A320-214 (N284VA), nicknamed "Rabid Badger." The only time I've seen a sharklet-equipped Airbus operated under the "Redwood" callsign... |
Farewell, Virgin America, farewll "Redwood," the most hip airline to grace U.S. skies!
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