Virgin America Receives Takeover Bid From Alaska Airlines

I'm kind of surprised that it's JetBlue and Alaska Air making offers as I've read speculation in the past year that those one or both of those airlines could merge with someone else.

 

wow, interesting. my next flight to Vegas is on Virgin, and it's my first time taking the airline... will be keeping tabs on this. Wasn't aware they were looking for a buyer.

 

Don't expect things to move fast. Even if they announce the purchase this week, it will be months before there are any noticeable changes.

 

Doesn't seem like a good fit for Alaska. Perhaps it's more of a preemptive move to prevent JetBlue or someone else from getting it.

 

I'm a little bummed about this. I love Jet Blue and fly often enough that I have Mosaic status on Jet Blue but I have been treating myself to FC to and from Vegas via Virgin America and I've very much enjoyed those FC flights, which I've gotten at good prices (about $600 OW). Hope the non-stop FC flights from JFK to LAS don't disappear. My "FC" flight on Delta is not really FC. I'd rather just fly Jet Blue, which is a good airline.

 

Maybe JB will expand mint service to LAS.

 

That would be great!

 

Less competition is never a good thing.

 

It appears that SW is looking at VA this makes sense as they have said they want to enter the HI. To me that would be a great way to use points and get more fliers. Certainly, SW is able to do such a move. The saga continues.

 

It's rumored that AK will buy VA and there will be news on Monday. Of course things can change.

 

I think there would be some strong objections to SW getting any larger through acquisition. I think a buyout would be tied up for a long time. And SW should be able to expand to HI without it.

 

Even if you add the annual passenger counts for SWA and VA together, the total is still less than the counts for Delta and AA. Why do you feel there would be strong objections to SWA acquiring VA?

 

Alaska Airlines confirms that they are buying Virgin America. $4b deal.

http://flyingbettertogether.com/

 

Southwest is the third largest airline in the country. They are already crowding some of the bigger dogs out of some markets. Any further acquisition by the top four would be challenged by unions and consumer advocates who want more competition. And with some of the mergers shot down recently by the FTC, I can see the challenges being successful. It's in our best interest that the bigger airlines don't get bigger and something happens so that new airlines can actually start up and be competitive.