The Odd Reason An Alaska 737 Has Been Out Of Service For Weeks

By: Ben Schlappig

Published: November 6, 2016

14 comments

Alaska’s $2.6 billion takeover of Virgin America was first announced in April, with the goal of closing the deal this year. As time progressed, a target date of October 17, 2016, was set for the deal to close. Unfortunately that deadline wasn’t met, though Alaska’s management continues to insist that they’re making “good progress” towards the deal closing.

Alaska-Virgin-America-Merger

We learned that the reason for the delay was that the Department of Justice was worried that there wasn’t enough competition left between US carriers (JoJo’s song “Too Little Too Late” comes to mind), and that they wanted Alaska to make some concessions. Specifically, it seems that the DOJ wants Alaska to cut their codesharing ties with American and/or Delta.

Arguably Alaska already significantly overpaid in this deal, and them having to cut ties with American and/or Delta could make this takeover even more costly. Alaska’s management continues to insist that the deal isn’t at risk, though I have to imagine that Alaska is even less happy about this deal than they were before.

Anyway, a picture has leaked of a “secret” Alaska 737-900, with tail number N493AS, sitting in a hangar at SeaTac Airport. This plane is sporting a special Alaska & Virgin America livery, with “More To Love” written along the side of the plane.

I wonder whether the interior matches the exterior, with half of the plane having nice first class seats, mood lighting, and personal televisions, and the other half of the plane looking like a Greyhound bus, just to be authentic. 😉

Unconfirmed photo of N493AS, which is expected to be painted in a special livery that promotes their purchase of @VirginAmerica. pic.twitter.com/bLcjMm7Gzz

— AirlineGeeks (@AirlineGeeks) November 4, 2016

Apparently Alaska had the plane ready to go for the day the deal was expected to close, so that they could immediately have it in service to celebrate the two companies becoming one. Well, now it has been sitting in the hangar for three weeks and counting. That can’t be cheap for a brand new 737-900…

The more days that pass since Alaska’s target close date, the more skeptical I am that this deal will actually go through…

What do you make of the special Alaska & Virgin America livery?

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Nate Guest

December 23, 2016, 9:12 pm

I have an interesting tidbit on this aircraft. This picture was taken at Victorville CA, NOT SEATAC as reported.

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Ricardo Guest

December 4, 2016, 2:14 am

Im sitting in front of it now and yeah thats our plane although the engines have been repainted but that's it all right it's crazy how things like this leaked on the internet I'm just glad it wasn't one of my pictures

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VG Guest

November 6, 2016, 9:46 pm

Alaska will get it right. Alaska is a great airline - their customer service trounces any in the industry. I have to defend Alaska otherwise here. I don't understand Lucky's greyhound bus reference (more than once). Horizon air has quite spartan planes for their short flights (PDX to SEA for example). However Alaska planes are great. They were the first I encountered with outlets (prior to Delta) etc. Great company. Great people. Always a pleasure to fly. Always appreciated as a customer.

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Jason Brandt Lewis Gold

November 6, 2016, 7:15 pm

Random (and possibly incoherent) thoughts..... @Rob ---> I have NO DOUBT that AS will *have* to make "some serious compromises to keep [us] VX loyalists happy." Speaking just for me and my family, we live in Berkeley, CA; OAK is a very easy airport to get in and out of, yet we (almost) always fly VX out of SFO. It's a much nice experience than I've had on any other domestic airline. That said, if AS ***** it up, there's always Southwest . . . My daughter already prefers flying on Southwest over VX or AS, and she's attending college in Tacoma (I think it's the two free bags). But as of now, I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that AS will not screw it up. All of the employees of VX, be it at the ticket counter, the gate staff, or the flight crew, have all responded quite positively about how they've been treated by AS so far. That is the only thing about this entire deal that has given me any hope -- that the VS employees seem happy with it -- but I'm still nervous about it. @David --> Yes, I too certainly thought a merger with JetBlue would have made much more sense, originally. And for all the obvious reasons. And who knows what will happen if DOJ continues to hold up the merger? Maybe it falls apart simply due to delay? But if so, will JetBlue pick it up? Who knows? The thought of a merger of all three would create a *very* interesting company, but I'm not sure if B6 has the financial power to take on both AS and VX. I doubt it, however, and with AS over-paying for VX (plus the cost of delays), I don't think AS would be willing to take over yet another airline. @sanseaguy --> Again, I would agree. It *is* one of the only ways for AS to expand, and tapping into the most populous state couldn't hurt. So while I *do* think AS overpaid, I also think there is a fair chance of them making this work. But not if these bureaucratic (and unnecessary) delays continue . . .

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Rob Guest

November 6, 2016, 3:00 pm

@ Donna I really hope so. I have to say I don't like AS's current branding all that much and I think changing the credit card design was a terrible idea--the old Northern Lights one was probably the most attractive looking airline CC out there. If the deal actually goes through, I see AS having to make some serious compromises to keep VX loyalists happy.

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