Alaska buys Virgin US

A takeover tussle over the future of Virgin America ended this week when Alaska Air said it is to buy the carrier for US$2.6bn.

Alaska boss Brad Tilden said the deal would make his airline the top carrier on the US West Coast and enable it to compete more effectively with larger airlines.

The Virgin offshoot, a brainchild of Sir Richard Branson, began service in August 2007 with the aim of providing low-fare, high-quality service between major cities on the US East and West coasts. 

Its main hub is at San Francisco International Airport, with others at Los Angeles International Airport and Dallas Love Field.

The airline accounts for about 1.5% of US domestic flight capacity, while Alaska Air and its Horizon Air subsidiary account for 5%.

Tilden said negotiations to purchase Virgin America had been a "hard-fought competition". JetBlue Airways had also made an offer for the company, which is popular with passengers for its mood lighting and extensive inflight entertainment.

The deal creates the fifth-largest American carrier, with the top four controlling more than 80% of the US travel market.  www.alaskaair.com

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James Southern, UK

I thought as part of the Open sky's deal with the U.K. And the E.U. Including access to LHR. The USA were Given a time scale to open up foreign ownership of US based airlines. This has clearly not happened! If it had Richard Branson wouldn't have sold out. Why can't we stand up to the Americans and stop them operating into LHR until they change the ownership rules?