Regional carrier SkyWest Airlines expects to approach “2019 levels” of block-hour flying this year as major US airlines boost their feeder networks.
SkyWest anticipates flying about 12% more block hours this year than last, “driven primarily by improving fleet availability and ongoing strong demand for our production”, chief executive Chip Childs said during the company’s year-end earnings call.
Company executives say that block hours will surge during upcoming summer months as it returns to service about 30 dual-class MHIRJ CRJ-family aircraft to its massive, 500-strong fleet of regional jets.
SkyWest, the largest regional carrier in the USA – which contracts with all three major US network carriers as well as Alaska Airlines – last year grew its block hours by a similar figure over 2023.
American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines have all forecast a return to full utilisation of their regional fleets, which have been slow to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic due to a years-long pilot shortage.
As a result, dozens of regional jets, long parked in the Arizona desert, have been rejoining fleets in recent months.
SkyWest continues converting CRJ700 airframes into the smaller CRJ550. It has a deal to fly up to 50 of those regional jets on behalf of United, with SkyWest anticipating the full fleet to be in operation by 2026.
It will also deploy the type elsewhere.
“We successfully launched our first Delta CRJ550 last July, and we anticipate transitioning 15 CRJ550 to our Delta fleet by the end of this quarter,” says chief commercial officer Wade Steel.
“These new Delta and United CRJ550 agreements, along with our CRJ700 extension with American, bring the number of unassigned dual-class CRJ700s and -900s down to single digits,” he says. “We expect these few aircraft will be assigned to one of our major partners soon.”
The company also shared plans to ”monetise” its CRJ200 assets. SkyWest owns more than 140 of the 50-seat regional jets.
“These aircraft will have very little book value and no associated debt, and we have approximately 4 million cycles remaining to monetise,” Steel says.
US major carriers appear to be moving away from that the CRJ200. American, for example, recently disclosed that it will let its contract with Air Wisconsin – which currently operates about 60 CRJ200s on its behalf – expire at the beginning of April.
SkyWest is exploring using its CRJ200s for special pro-rate agreements and charter flying under its SkyWest Charter arm.
The world’s largest operator of Embraer regional jets, SkyWest anticipates taking eight Embraer 175s this year and the next, bringing its E175 fleet to 278 aircraft.
St George, Utah-based SkyWest turned a $323 million profit for the full year of 2024, compared with a $34 million profit during the prior year.
