Airlines Alaska Airlines and Virgin America gain single operating certificate

Alaska Airlines has closed the purchase of its former rival Virgin America in December 2016. Now, one year later, Alaska Airlines has announced it has received a single operating certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for Alaska Airlines and Virgin America, marking another significant milestone in the integration of the two airlines.

"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.

In a next step, both airlines will move to a single reservations system in late April 2018. 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.

As part of the merger, Virgin America will be integrated into Alaska Airlines. Virgin America’s fleet of over 60 Airbus A320 Family aircraft was fully integrated into Alaska Airlines fleet. Alaska Airlines now operates a mixed Airbus A320 Family and Boeing 737 Family fleet of over 210 aircraft.

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.