Alaska Air Group is an American airline holding company that owns Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air. It traces its roots back to 1932, when two competing charter services, McGee Airways and Star Air Service, were founded in Anchorage, Alaska. The two companies merged in 1934 and later acquired several other small Alaskan carriers, changing their name to Alaska Airlines in 1944. In 1951, Alaska Airlines received authority to fly to the continental United States, and in 1957, it introduced in-flight movies for the first time. Alaska Airlines entered the jet age in 1966 and became the first airline to use a computerized reservation system in 1972. It also expanded its service to Mexico, Russia, and Canada in the following decades. In 1985, Alaska Air Group was formed as a holding company for Alaska Airlines, and a year later it acquired Horizon Air and Jet America Airlines. Jet America Airlines was merged into Alaska Airlines in 1987. In 2011, Alaska Air Group joined the Dow Jones Transportation Average index and in 2016, it announced plans to acquire Virgin America, which was completed later that year. In 2017, Alaska Air Group announced that it would merge Virgin America and Alaska Airlines under the Alaska Airlines brand, which was largely completed in 2018. The Virgin America brand was fully retired by 2019.