Last week, Alaska Airlines announced it would be retiring the Virgin America name in 2019 after purchasing the airline in April 2016 for $3.4 billion (US $2.6 billion).
The announcement has lead to an emotional response from Virgin Group founder, Sir Richard Branson, who penned a farewell to the airline on his company’s blog. The post covers the full emotional spectrum as Branson reminisces on good times with the airline, all the way through to referring to the retirement as «the day the music died».
You can read the whole letter below, but you might want to keep a box of tissues nearby.
«Dear Virgin America,
With a lot of things in life, there is a point where we have to let go and appreciate the fact that we had this ride at all. Many years ago, I shed tears over selling my beloved Virgin Records for $1 billion, which we needed to fight off British Airways’ Dirty Tricks campaign to try to put Virgin Atlantic out of business. Many tears are shed today, this time over Alaska Airlines’ decision to buy and now retire Virgin America.
It has a very different business model and sadly, it could not find a way to maintain its own brand and that of Virgin America.
When a company goes public, decisions are made that benefit the shareholders. In the best of times, they also benefit consumers. It remains to be seen what will happen now "“ for travellers "“ with fewer airlines in the US than ever. Being different and on a mission to truly reinvent an experience for the customer is increasingly rare in this business…
