Ben Mutzabaugh

USA TODAY

Alaska Airlines’ name will live on; Virgin America’s will not.

Alaska Airlines announced Wednesday it will drop the name and logo of the merger partner it acquired late last year. Virgin America will be phased out, “likely sometime in 2019,” Alaska Air said in a statement.

Instead, the combined carrier “will adopt many of the brand elements that Virgin America enthusiasts love,” according to Alaska Air's statement. The company referenced “enhanced in-flight entertainment, mood lighting (and) music” as some of Virgin America’s signature items it will try to incorporate into the post-merger carrier.

“The goal is to create a warm and welcoming West Coast-inspired vibe,” Alaska Airlines said.

TODAY IN THE SKY (December 2016): Alaska Air begins merger with Virgin America, promises 'more to love' (story continues below)

"Our goal from the very beginning of this merger was to become the go-to airline for people on the West Coast, with low fares, convenient flights, a premium product and genuine, caring service," Alaska Air CEO Brad Tilden added in the company's statement. "Three months in, we've dramatically grown our presence in California and are united behind a new purpose: Creating an airline people love."

Alaska Airlines and Virgin America each enjoy strong customer-service ratings, regularly faring well in ratings of the top U.S. airlines.

Last summer, Tilden kept the hopes of Virgin America loyalists alive when he said Alaska Air was considering whether the Virgin America brand might live on after the merger.

"We are looking at that because we do believe in the power of the Virgin America brand and we don't want to lose all that loyalty and revenue that exists today," Tilden told The Associated Press then.

Alas, that was not to be.

“While the Virgin America name is beloved to many, we concluded that to be successful on the West Coast we had to do so under one name — for consistency and efficiency, and to allow us to continue to deliver low fares," Sangita Woerner, Alaska’s vice president of marketing, said in a statement Wednesday.

But while Alaska Air said it would sunset the Virgin America brand, it also detailed changes to come as the merger progresses. Among those:

- More first-class seats: Alaska Air says it will expand first class from eight to 12 seats on Virgin America's Airbus fleet, though that means that amount of space will shrink for those first-class fliers. Prior to the merger, Alaska Airlines' mainline fleet consisted solely of Boeing 737 aircraft. Virgin America flies only Airbus planes.

- Alaska Airlines will roll out its new "Premium Class" extra-room economy seats to Virgin America's Airbus fleet beginning in late 2018.

- Alaska Airlines says it will roll out "an entirely redesigned cabin with new seats and amenities" starting in 2018. New employee uniforms are expected to come in 2019.

- As for the fate of Virgin America's Airbus jets, that remains uncertain. Alaska Air tells CNN that a decision on whether to stick with Boeing or move to a mixed mainline fleet would be made later this year. "Either way, the company will fly a mixed fleet for at least the next 6 years," an Alaska Air spokeswoman said to the network. Alaska Air will begin repainting those Virgin America Airbus jets in the Alaska livery sometime next year.

TODAY IN THE SKY: Alaska Airlines’ iconic Eskimo gets a makeover (January 2016)