Virgin America Inc. was a low-cost airline headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area city of Burlingame, in the U.S. state of California.

It primarily focused on operating low-fare, higher-quality service between cities on the West Coast of the United States and other major metropolitan areas.

[4] Once the new owners were on board, Virgin's General Counsel submitted the required U.S. Department of Transportation certificate application on December 9, 2005.

[6] In order to achieve the necessary approval, Virgin America's General Counsel David Pflieger and CEO Fred Reid filed a revised application that proposed a restructuring of the airline in January 2007; voting shares would be held by a Department of Transportation–approved trust and only two Virgin Group directors would be on the eight-person board.

[9] The Department of Transportation's final agreement allowed Reid to remain involved with Virgin America until February 2008, after which he was required to leave the company.

[16] In March 2010, Virgin America announced its intention to start flying to Toronto from Los Angeles and San Francisco, making it the airline's first international destination.

[18] However, due to high operating costs, response from competitors, slower growth than anticipated, and higher demand for Dallas/Fort Worth, Virgin America terminated Toronto service on April 6, 2011.

[19] Virgin America began its service to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in December 2010, and continued until after the repeal of the Wright Amendment in October 2014, when the airline leased two gates and established a focus city at Dallas Love Field and enhanced the number of connecting destinations.

[20] Virgin America announced in January 2011 a firm order for sixty new Airbus A320 aircraft, including thirty new Airbus A320neos, that would be delivered starting in 2016, as a formal expansion of an initial commitment made by Richard Branson at the Farnborough Airshow in July 2010, though in November 2012 the airline deferred delivery of the aircraft to 2020.

[21][22] In April 2011, Virgin America's hub at San Francisco International Airport relocated to the newly remodeled Terminal 2, sharing the gates with American Airlines.

[23] In late October 2011, the airline migrated to Sabre's global distribution system (GDS) that handles reservations, frequent-flier accounts, flight operations data and crew scheduling.

Difficulties with the changeover sparked widespread customer complaints, due to early technical malfunctions surrounding the program.

[36] Virgin America became the launch customer for the Airbus A321neo, with the airline placing a firm order for 10 aircraft through leasing company GE Capital Aviation Services.

[37] In early February 2017, Alaska Air Group said it was working with GE on an arrangement where it would not take delivery of all 10 ordered jets, in favor of keeping a predominantly Boeing fleet.

The next day, on January 11, 2018, the Federal Aviation Administration issued a single operating certificate for a combined Alaska Airlines and Virgin America.

[44] Overnight, the customer-facing portions of the company (including flight numbers, website, and airport check-in kiosks) were converted to use the Alaska Airlines brand.

The key trends for Virgin America over its later years were as follows (as at year ending December 31): Virgin America leased 68,000 square feet (6,300 m2) of space at Bay Park Plaza II (formerly known as the Forbes Building), a building at 555 Airport Boulevard in Burlingame, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area, owned, leased, and managed by EQ Office.

[2] Virgin America also maintained a focus city at Dallas Love Field, and operated a route between Las Vegas and New York JFK.

Both cabins featured mood lighting and all seats were equipped with a Panasonic Avionics in-flight entertainment system running a customized touch-screen GUI called Red.

The seats featured power-ports, adjustable headrests, a massage function, tablet friendly tray table (with two positions), and various recline controls.

Virgin America's frequent-flyer program was Elevate, which allowed passengers to earn five points for every dollar spent on a flight's base fare, which excluded taxes and other fees.