Virgin America Buyout ?

[bafanguy]

FYI:

Virgin America Gets Takeover Bids From JetBlue and Alaska Air - Bloomberg Business (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-28/virgin-america-said-to-attract-jetblue-alaska-air-takeover-bids)

[zondaracer]

Virgin America, although a very good airline, has just started to become profitable.

[bafanguy]

FYI:

"Alaska Airlines is poised to buy Virgin for about $2 billion, a person briefed on the matter said Saturday, describing a move that would unite two popular smaller airlines in the latest round of consolidation within the industry."

"Alaska and JetBlue squared off in the final round of bidding, with official offers coming in recent days. But Alaska, one of the rare airlines to hold an investment-grade credit rating and one with more cash on its books than some others, appears to have triumphed."

Alaska Air poised to buy Virgin America, report says | The Seattle Times (http://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/alaska-air-reportedly-nears-deal-for-virgin-america/)

[bafanguy]

Alaska got 'em:

The Kathryn Report: Alaska Air Strikes Deal to Buy Virgin America for $2.6 Billion: Agreement follows a frenzied bidding fight with JetBlue (http://www.thekathrynreport.com/2016/04/alaska-air-strikes-deal-to-buy-virgin.html)

[Niner Lima Charlie]

Alaska is an all Boeing fleet. Virgin America is all Airbus. Wonder how that merger will work out?

[bafanguy]

All questions...no answers yet. The only thing you can count on is that after the seniority list integration, someone will be mad. ;-)

[zondaracer]

You can't please everyone in a merger.

[bafanguy]

Zonda,

You're sure right about that. I do wonder how/if the difference in the longevity of each carrier, and the seniority expectations of each pilot group, will affect the seniority list integration.

VA is a very young airline...AK quite old.

[CSU_Ram]

Both are ALPA, so the ALPA Merger/Fragmentation policy will govern as required by the Bond/McCaskill Act. The merger frag policy expressly forbids windfall gains in seniority. In the mid 90s, the Board of Directors deleted Date of Hire in favor of "career expectations."

Career expectations was inserted to prevent senior USAIR pilots from jumping into UAL wide body seats during the aborted USAIR/UAL merger of that decade.

Career expectations doesn't apply to two narrow body carriers since both pilot groups could only expect to retire in a narrow body seat.

I expect some sort of deal where all AS pilots hired prior to 2007 are listed followed by a ratio of the remaining pilots from each carrier with no bump/no flush provisions to protect the people who are already holding Captain seats at each carrier.

[Sfopilot207]

I'm a new Virgin FO, just finishing up my A320 type rating next week. From what we know, Virgin America will be around at least for the next 2 years or so. That is how long it will take to jump through all the legal stuff to operate under one certificate.
We have had several meetings with the Alaska management and they have yet to create an ultimate plan for the future. They will be looking in the next few months to see if they will keep the Virgin Brand or ultimately phase it out. They are crunching the numbers to see what could possible work, given that we have two very different products that each airline offer and cater to very different market groups.
I will be flying the A320 at least for the next 5 years from what I know. That is when the first leases start coming off and we will find out if eventually we will have to get a 737 type in the future.
None the less, mergers and acquisitions are a part of this industry. It was quite fast how quickly this buyout occurred. All within a few weeks. We were joking in our class that I went from a 25 year old major airline pilot to a Legacy pilot all within 3 weeks and have yet to get a single landing over here. I am looking forward to the future and hope that the merger will be done quickly and with a good heart and attitude from both sides.

[CSU_Ram]

I wish you all the best. However, knowing AS management I'd be willing to bet the Virgin brand is gone sooner than later. Remember, they fought a protracted legal fight to strangle your airline in its crib.

Alaska has more 737s on order than A320s that Virgin flies. As your leases come due, I'd expect AS to return the aircraft. This is why it is CRITICAL for Virgin pilots to expedite a merged seniority list. Unless the SLI is completed before the lease returns kick in, it will be Virgin pilots who get furloughed while AS pilots/AS new hires fill the slots on the new 737s.

If the SLI is completed, then no one will get furloughed and Virgin pilots will have the opportunity to bid into Alaska equipment as their seniority allows. Make sure your MEC insists on "No Bump/No Flush" language in the SLI. That will protect the both the VX and AS Captains who already hold the left seat.

Hopefully this SLI will be fairly smooth as long as one group doesn't have unrealistic expectations as the USAIR boys did when America West acquired them.