8 Things You Didn't Know About Virgin America

Updated on April 10, 2016 at 5:00 PM

There's been lots of talk surrounding Virgin America since Alaska Airlines acquired the company for $2.6 billion. The cherished airline will be facing many changes come January 2017, but in the meantime we will continue to enjoy Virgin America as it is.

We did some digging, and there's tons of fascinating facts about Richard Branson's beloved service. Check out these interesting statistics on Virgin America!

Each plane's mood lighting has 12 shades that adapt to outside light.

So when you see different colors as you're flying, know that they're there for a reason!

All of Virgin America's planes have pretty crazy names.

Some of those names include Unicorn Chaser, Rabid Badger, Pineapple Express, Runway Angel, Gogo Dancer, and Screw It, Let's Do It. Many of the names have stories behind them.

Virgin America was the first airline to make foldable boarding passes.

The airline's boarding passes are pocket-friendly — why didn't we think of that before?

Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin America, owns his very own island.

Branson is the owner of Necker Island, located among the British Virgin Islands. It's his favorite place to relax.

All seats include seat-to-seat chat messaging.

So if you don't sit next to your travel buddy, you can instant message them throughout the flight. There's also an on-demand food and drink ordering system at every seatback.

Virgin America is incredibly eco-friendly.

The airline's new fleet is up to 20 percent more fuel and carbon efficient than the average US fleet. Virgin America is also the first airline to list its carbon footprint according to internationally accepted standards via The Climate Registry.

All of the planes' seats have outlets.

Yes! You can plug in your electronics on any Virgin America flight because each seat has an outlet.

Virgin America has 60 planes in its fleet.

For such an influential airline, that's a relatively small fleet — impressive.