Alaska Airlines (AS, Seattle Tacoma International) will fully integrate Virgin America (San Francisco) into its own systems by April 25, 2018, approximately eighteen months after Alaska took over Virgin in a USD2.6 billion deal. In an e-mail to ch-aviation, a spokesperson for Alaska confirmed that with the publication of its spring schedule, the two airlines will begin to be integrated.
"We're targeting April 25 to integrate our reservations systems, passenger records, and seat inventories, among other things," the spokesperson said. "At this time we'll integrate our passenger service systems, which means we will have one inventory of flights, one customer website (alaskaair.com), one mobile app, and only Alaska kiosks."
Despite being "Proudly All Boeing" in its mainline operations, Alaska will now integrate Virgin's Airbus fleet into its own, at least until 2022 when the Airbus leases will start to expire. In the meantime, Alaska plans to retain the Virgin brand until 2019 to allow it time to make the necessary changes.
"Gates, ticketing and check-in areas will all be Alaska-branded at the airport," the spokesperson added. "It will take more time for us to update branding on the Airbus fleet, including the livery and the interiors, but in the meantime, we've started selling Virgin America's Main Cabin Select seats as Premium Class for Airbus flights after April 24."
The two airlines must still secure a Single Operator's Certificate (SOC) from the Federal Aviation Administration to allow them to operate as a single carrier. This is expected to be approved in January 2018.
