SEATTLE, Jan. 11, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Alaska
Airlines received a single operating certificate from the Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA) today for Alaska Airlines and Virgin
America, marking another significant milestone in the integration
of the two airlines.
The receipt of a single operating certificate will not result in
any immediate differences for guests when flying with Alaska or Virgin America. For now, guests will
still use respective Alaska and
Virgin America mobile apps, websites and airport terminals when
traveling. But when Alaska and
Virgin America move to a single reservations system in late
April 2018, guests can expect a more
streamlined travel experience, with the Alaska mobile app and website serving their
travel needs.
"This is a big moment for our company. We're now recognized as a
one airline in the eyes of the FAA," said Ben Minicucci, Alaska Airlines' president and
chief operating officer and CEO of Virgin America. "I want to
congratulate and thank the teams at Alaska and Virgin America for their tireless
work to get this done on time, including Gary Beck, the executive sponsor who led this
project from the beginning. The CAVOK Group was also instrumental
with this massive effort. And we greatly appreciate the assistance
of the FAA, the Department of Transportation and other agencies as
we accomplished this major milestone."
Alaska closed its purchase of
Virgin America in December 2016.
Since then, a tremendous amount of work and planning has been done
to align the operating policies and procedures of the two carriers,
which is part of the thorough regulatory requirements established
by the FAA to achieve a single operating certificate.
More than 110 employees from both airlines worked to obtain the
single operating certificate. They logged approximately 70,000
hours; reviewed 346 different operational topics across 136
manuals; analyzed more than 39,000 pages of material; and
instituted roughly 1,500 changes to policies and procedures
throughout 68 various manuals. More than 10,500 frontline employees
have been trained on the updated policies and procedures. As part
of the single operating certificate approval process, Virgin
America flight attendants were issued iPhones for their work
duties, matching their Alaska
counterparts; Virgin America pilots are now going through a
validation period to receive iPads, similar to Alaska's pilots.
There has been a steady flow of accomplishments on integration.
Among them, as of Jan. 1, the Virgin
America loyalty program integrated with Alaska Mileage Plan, and
the company transitioned to a single payroll and benefits program.
The single operating certificate allows Alaska to continue integration work that can
only be achieved with the certification. An additional milestone
will be reached in March when an Airbus operations control center
will be co-located with one for Boeing aircraft at Alaska's Flight Operations Center in
Seattle.
Learn more about the integration on the Alaska Airlines
blog.
Alaska Airlines is focused on creating an airline people love,
with great service, low airfares and a generous loyalty program.
Alaska's mission is to be the
airline of choice on the West Coast. Alaska has the most nonstops from the West
Coast of any airline. Alaska keeps
growing, especially in California,
where it now offers service to 42 destinations from the Bay
Area.
About Alaska Airlines
Alaska Airlines, together with Virgin America and its regional
partners, flies 40 million guests a year to more than
115 destinations with an average of 1,200 daily flights across
the United States and to
Mexico, Canada, Costa
Rica and Cuba. With
Alaska and Alaska Global Partners,
guests can earn and redeem miles on flights to more than 900
destinations worldwide. Alaska Airlines ranked "Highest in Customer
Satisfaction Among Traditional Carriers in North America" in the J.D. Power North America
Satisfaction Study for 10 consecutive years from 2008 to 2017.
Learn more about Alaska's
award-winning service at newsroom.alaskaair.com and
blog.alaskaair.com. Alaska Airlines, Virgin America and Horizon Air
are subsidiaries of Alaska Air Group (NYSE: ALK).
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SOURCE Alaska Airlines