Alaska Retrofitting Former Virgin Craft, Adding Extra Capacity

Alaska Airlines has completed its acquisition of Virgin America and the former carrier is undertaking a retrofitting operation of its new fleet of Airbus planes. In addition to a whole raft of updates and improvements, Alaska is also adding seat capacity, a move that it hopes will increase revenue.

Alaska Airlines’ acquisition of Virgin America is now completed and the former carrier is busy retrofitting the cabin interiors of its Airbus aircraft, all of which have been acquired from the latter airline.

The carrier is eager to keep passengers informed of what they can expect to find on-board its Airbus fleet and states on its website that, “Both inside and out, we’re gradually refreshing our aircraft to give flying with us a more uniform look and feel across the entire fleet. We’ve already begun painting the exterior of Airbus planes with the Alaska brand and logo, and updates to the interiors will happening over the next 15 months.”

Alaska adds that, “Late this fall, you’ll begin to see newly refurbished Airbus aircraft to return to service. Updates include new Recaro leather seats with tablet holders and power outlets, first class seats with foot rests, the addition of premium class seating, our new satellite Wi-Fi, and furnishings with a new, modern, West Coast vibe.”

“During October and November, we’ll be renumbering Airbus seat rows to make them similar to our other aircraft, which should help lessen confusion when we need to switch the aircraft assigned for a certain flight. By the end of 2019, all 73 of our Airbus aircraft will feature this new cabin experience,” says the airline.

But in addition to improving the look, feel and overall passenger experience, it appears that these improvements are intended to increase the carrier’s earnings. According to the Puget Sound Business Journal, Alaska is also seeking to add extra capacity on these newly acquired planes, something that could help it to take in $180 million in additional revenue.