Alaska Airlines.

• Position: Inside Alaska Business

Alaska Air Group Inc. announced it has closed its acquisition of Virgin America. The definitive merger agreement, which was signed in April and approved by Virgin America shareholders in July, brings together two of the country's favorite airlines into a unified force that will provide an attractive alternative to the "Big 4" airlines that currently control 84 percent of the domestic market. Alaska Airlines and Virgin America will spend the next year working to secure Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification to allow the two airlines to operate as a single carrier (with regional sister carrier Horizon Air remaining on its own separate...