Virgin America to be no more following Alaska Airlines merger

SEATTLE — Being named the Best Airline in North America isn't enough to save the brand name of Virgin America.

Alaska Airlines, which bought Virgin America last year, has announced that it will fly both companies under the Alaska Airlines name by 2019, CNN Money reported.

Alaska, which is based in Seattle, bought Richard Branson’s airline to break into the California market, making Alaska the country’s fifth-largest airline, CNN Money reported.

"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," Alaska Airlines' vice president of marketing, Sangita Woerner, said in the company's Wednesday news release.

Alaska Airlines said in last week’s announcement that it will keep the options that made Virgin America a household name, like its free in-flight entertainment, mood lighting and boarding music.

In 2018, some Alaska Airlines aircraft will be retrofitted with the same mood lighting and new seats and amenities, the company said. Free in-flight entertainment will also be coming to the airline’s existing Boeing fleet as a permanent feature.

Cox Media Group