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1972 |
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SkyWest Airlines is born when St. George,
Utah lawyer Ralph Atkin buys Dixie Airlines. |
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The first SkyWest flights are penny-a-pound airplane
rides along with parachutists and stunts. |
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June 19, the first scheduled flight from St. George to Salt Lake
City takes place with a stop in Cedar City, Utah along the way. |
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Fares are a staggering
$28 from St. George to Salt Lake City and $25 from Cedar
City to Salt Lake City. |
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A whopping 256 people
utilized SkyWest's services that year flying in a six
seat Piper Seneca. |
"We could say that we never cancelled a flight. We may
have gotten there four hours late, but we got people to
their destination." - SkyWest founder Ralph Atkin |
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| 1975 |
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Efforts fail to sell or even give away the struggling airline. |
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Losses reach $300,000. |
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Reorganization takes place cutting overhead costs, personnel, and aircraft. |
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Jerry Atkin, 26, becomes the youngest president of a scheduled airline in the country. |
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1979 |
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The first 19 passenger Fairchild Metro II is delivered.
Two more are delivered later this year. |
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A new $500,000 24,000 square foot general office and maintenance facility
is built in St. George. Maintenance gets 15,000 square feet and 9,000 square feet is designated as office and shop support space. |
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1984 |
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SkyWest acquires Palm Springs, California based Sun Aire.
That acquisition makes SkyWest the eleventh largest regional in the country. |
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14 more Fairchild Metro IIs are added to the fleet making a total of
26. SkyWest now has the largest Metro fleet in the world. |
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A new maintenance facility in Palm Springs is opened. |
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250 employees make up the SkyWest team, which grew by 45% this year. |
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| 1985 |
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The slogan of the year is, "The west isn't getting smaller, we're getting bigger.
We really move our tails for you." |
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A standard paint scheme and logo is adopted. |
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The executive offices are moved from the St. George airport to downtown. |
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SkyWest announces it will become the Western Express in SLC code-sharing with Western Airlines. |
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With Western as the number one carrier in Salt Lake City, SkyWest became number two. |
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652,698 passengers are carried with revenues of $32.3 million. |
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| 1986 |
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SkyWest becomes the
twenty-fourth regional airline to offer it's stock publicly, trading
under the SKYW symbol on the NASDAQ exchange. The initial
purchase offer was 1 to 1.25 million shares at $10 a share. |
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This offering raised
enough money to pay off a sizable chunk of the long-term
debt accrued from the purchase of Sun Aire and the new
St. George hangar. |
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The money raised by the stock offering is also used for the acquisition of five new Brasilias; the first being delivered from
Brazil on December 24. |
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Delta Air Lines announces
the purchase of Western. Delta is now the largest carrier
in the U.S. This places SkyWest in a better position to
compete with other regional's, namely American Eagle and
UA Express. |
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The first Flight Attendants are hired and the first training class consisting of 25 Flight
Attendants begins. |
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| 1987 |
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Air Transport World magazine names SkyWest Commuter/Regional Airline of the Year. |
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The transition to Delta Connection begins to unfold and will consummate on April 1. Delta Air Lines buys the remaining
un-issued stock representing 20% or about one million shares. |
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Brasilia service begins on February 1, in Palm Springs. The fourth Brasilia is delivered in June. The fleet now consists of 41 aircraft. |
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The Palm Springs maintenance facility is christened on December 17. |
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Color Canyon Air Service is purchased and is renamed Cedar City Air Service. |
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This is the most profitable year ever. Net income is $3.1 million and revenues are $56 million. |
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38 cities in eight states and 800,000 passengers are served. |
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501 flights are operated daily and there are nearly 1,000 employees. |
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| 1991 |
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Profits posted this year are half that of last year’s due to the inflated cost of fuel. |
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Four major airlines are in bankruptcy because of the cost of fuel. |
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SkyWest serves 42 cities in eight states with a fleet of 15 Brasilias,
35 Metros, and 1528 employees. |
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Founder Ralph Atkin retires as Chairman of the Board, but continues as board member. Jerry Atkin replaces him as chairman. |
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Ron Reber is promoted to Chief Operating Officer and Brad Rich to Chief Financial Officer. |
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| 1994 |
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The Bombardier manufactured Canadair Regional Jet becomes part of the SkyWest fleet. A total of 10 are ordered with four
being delivered this year. SkyWest is the first U.S. airline to use this particular aircraft. |
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The fleet now consists
of 28 Metroliners, 23 Brasilias, and 4 CRJ's. |
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Scenic Airlines is acquired. |
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Enplanements increase from 48,000 to 340,000 passengers. |
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Revenues increased 114% from 1993. |
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$14.4 million in net income is earned. |
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Stock price continues to rise hitting a high of $38.75. |
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1,800 employees make up the SkyWest team. |
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| 1995 |
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SkyWest operates 115 daily flights from LAX becoming the airport's number one carrier. Code sharing agreement is reached
with Continental Airlines in LAX. |
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The fleet receives four more CRJ200s bringing the total to eight. |
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The system's routes now include 49 cities in 11 states. |
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| 1997 |
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SkyWest celebrates
its 25th anniversary (1972 - 1997). |
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Delta was moving capacity from Los Angeles and even though SkyWest was still operating more than 100 flights a day, they were losing money.
SkyWest’s options; continue operation at a loss, leave the market, or find a new code-share partner who would want to maintain the California Market. |
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SkyWest begins code-sharing with United Airlines, the word’s second largest air carrier. Operations as United Express begin on
October 1. Subsequently, SkyWest ends code-sharing with Continental out of Los Angeles International (LAX). |
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Thus began the most exciting period of growth for SkyWest. The aviation industry was watching SkyWest adjust to managing two of the
worlds largest most powerful partners (both wanted and expected seamless service). SkyWest needed an unprecedented number of planes, employees,
training, etc. in a very short amount of time to pull it off. |
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120 flights operated out of LAX for United Express. |
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| 1998 |
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On January 19, SkyWest announces San Francisco expansion with United Express. This adds 12 new California
markets and 84 daily departures. The service begins on June 1. |
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February 11, SkyWest announces new expansion in seven more California cities and 54 more daily departures
in the Pacific Northwest. |
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In March, the first United Express painted aircraft goes online. |
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April 1, the first SkyWest flight to venture out of the U.S. goes
to Vancouver, Canada. |
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April 5, the Portland Maintenance Hangar is opened. |
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2002 |
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SkyWest is named 2002 Regional Airline of the Year by
Air Transport World magazine. |
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June 19, SkyWest celebrates its 30 year anniversary. |
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July 1, SkyWest opens new maintenance base in Tucson,
Arizona. |
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To Celebrate SkyWest’s 30 year anniversary, CharterFest brings together SkyWest Executives and
employees in a four day, 12 city tour in a specially painted CRJ200. |
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Chairman, President and CEO Jerry Atkin accepts the
Airline Business magazine award for Regional Airlines Leadership. |
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September 19, SkyWest takes delivery of their 50th CRJ.
The fleet now consists of 68 RJ's (13 taken from COMAIR). |
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Utah Business magazine features SkyWest on the cover
touting them as one of the "Best Companies to Work For." |
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December 8, partner United Airlines files for Chapter
11 Bankruptcy protection. Their filing was the largest in aviation history. |
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SkyWest announces 2002 statistics:
- 8.39 million passengers flown
- 2.99 billion revenue passenger miles flown
- Operating revenue; $774,218,000
- Net Earnings; $86,874,000 |
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2003 |
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May 19, a new code-share agreement with Continental Airlines is signed. SkyWest will provide
regional service for Continental in Houston, TX as a Continental Connection carrier. It is anticipated that by year’s end, SkyWest
will serve nine communities out of Houston using the EMB120 aircraft, including service to Killeen, Texas, starting July 1. |
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W. Steve Albrecht joins the SkyWest’s Board of Directors. |
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A new 11-year rate and growth agreement is
reached with United Airlines making SkyWest the largest United Express carrier.
The agreement calls for SkyWest to operate a fleet of 140 aircraft, including
55 turbo-prop aircraft currently serving the United Express fleet, 55, 50-seat
regional jet aircraft which will be in service by the end of 2003 and 30, 70-seat
regional jets that are scheduled to be serving United Express routes by summer 2005. |
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July 24, SkyWest launches their new and
improved external website, www.skywest.com. |
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SkyWest assumes the financial risk for
eight Delta Connection EMB markets out of the SLC Hub. |
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With the September delivery of another
50-passenger Bombardier manufactured Canadair Regional Jet 200 (CRJ200), SkyWest’s
fleet of regional jets hits triple digits. |
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SkyWest orders 30 of Bombardier’s
70-passenger Canadair Regional Jet 700’s (CRJ700) for operation in the
United Express system. |
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Asiana Airlines and US Airways add their
code to selected SkyWest operated United Express flights |
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The US Department of Transportation
names SkyWest the number one on-time airline in the United States for 2003.
This is the first year SkyWest has been added to the DOT’s report. The report
tracks 17 domestic air carriers’ performance on a monthly basis. SkyWest is one
of only five regional carriers included on the report. |
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Financial and operating results for the year:
- Revenue $888,026,000
- Net earnings $66,787,000
- 4.2 revenue passenger miles flown
- 10.7 million passengers flown |
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2004 |
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Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Jerry Atkin celebrates 30 years at SkyWest |
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Captain Earl Snow, SkyWest’s most senior employee,
retires after 32 years with the airline. |
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The 70-passenger (CRJ700), is added to the SkyWest fleet. Service began on February 15 between
Salt Lake City, Utah; Denver, Colorado and Wichita, Kansas. |
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An additional 12 regional jet aircraft are ordered
for the United Express operations for delivery during 2004. This new order with
Bombardier consists of ten CRJ200s and two CRJ700s. |
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The Chicago, IL (ORD) hub and crew domicile officially opens. |
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A maintenance base and crew domicile opens in Colorado Springs, CO (COS).
A new hangar will be constructed for CRJ maintenance purposes. |
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Delta announces major network restructuring, closing the Dallas/ Fort Worth Hub (DFW) and expanding
in SLC. SkyWest repositions DFW aircraft to Salt Lake City (SLC) to handle the additional flying. |
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SkyWest’s workforce reaches 6,000 and later 7,000
employees. |
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In a system-wide display of solidarity, SkyWest
Airlines employees across the nation rally in the fight against cancer by wearing
pink ribbons and denim to support Lee National Denim Day for Breast Cancer Research
and Awareness. |
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The 2004 Mini Indy Race proved to be the most
lucrative in its four year history, generating an impressive amount of charitable
donations totaling $80,000. From the race, banquet and silent auction, $55,000 was
raised for the United Way Dixie. The remaining $25,000 from the golf event was
appropriated for SkyWest’s Lyle Wilkinson Scholarship Fund, a fund for SkyWest
employees and their families. |
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SkyWest opens 21 new stations throughout the year. |
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SkyWest is named the number one on-time airline in
the United States by the Department of Transportation for 2004. |
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Financial and operating results for the year:
• Revenue $1,156,044,000
• Net earnings $81,952,000
• Revenue passenger miles flown: 5.5 billion
• Passengers carried in 2004: 13.4 million |
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2005 |
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SkyWest employees donate $40,000 to tsunami relief with company match. |
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Performance Rewards launched. |
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SkyWest celebrates 35 years in Palm Springs (with two years carried over from Sun Aire). |
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Pam Snow named SLC regional director. |
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The U.S. Department of Transportation names SkyWest 2004 Number One Mainland On-Time Airline. |
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Mini Indy 2005 raises over $100,000 for United Way and SkyWest’s scholarship fund. |
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Regional Airline World magazine names SkyWest Regional Airline of the Year 2004. |
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Jerry Atkin presents at the Goldman Sachs 2005 Annual transportation conference in New York City. |
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The FAA decorates SkyWest Airlines with the Gold Aviation Maintenance Technician Award. |
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SkyWest, Inc. acquires Atlantic Southeast Airlines from Delta Air Lines. |
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Ron Reber promoted to President of SkyWest Airlines. |
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United Express ground handling is assumed at six Colorado and Wyoming ski markets. |
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The Fresno, CA station marks its 20th anniversary. |
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Burbank and Imperial, California, Yuma, Arizona and Pocatello, Idaho celebrate 25 years of operation. |
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West Yellowstone, Montana, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Cody, Wyoming, Portland, Oregon and Tucson, Arizona commemorate 10 years of operation. |
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United selects SkyWest to operate 20 additional CRJ700s as United Express. |
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Maintenance base launched at Chicago O’Hare. |
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SkyWest Airlines is honored on behalf of SkyWest, Inc. as a Utah Top 15 Revenue Growth Company for 2005. |
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Employee count exceeds 9,100. |
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Employees donate more than $202,000 for ASA employee Hurricane Katrina relief with company match. |
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2006 |
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SkyWest takes delivery of Bombardier’s 250th 70-passenger CRJ700. |
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May 7, SkyWest says ‘Thanks for the memories’ to Cedar City, Utah as that station
goes off-line. |
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SkyWest raises $83,500 during Mini Indy for United Way Dixie. |
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SkyWest Airlines’ Necia Clark-Mantle, Vice President, People, is honored as one of Utah
Business Magazine’s “30 Women to Watch.” |
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SkyWest welcomes a fourth aircraft type into their modern fleet of regional aircraft: the
70-passenger, Bombardier manufactured CRJ900. |
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SkyWest receives the FAA’s Aviation Maintenance Technician (AMT) Gold Award for
initial and recurrent maintenance training in 2005. |
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SkyWest Airlines is selected by Midwest Airlines to enter into an airline services
agreement. |
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Employees at SkyWest Corporate Headquarters in St. George raise more than $6,000 for KONY
Coins for Kids. |
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SkyWest’s net income is $145.8 million. |
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SkyWest carries 19.5 million passengers in 2006. |
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2007 |
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Russell “Chip” Childs is named new President and Chief Operating Officer of SkyWest Airlines. |
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SkyWest Inc. names Eric Woodward new Vice President – Controller. |
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SkyWest, Inc. names Michael Kraupp Vice President – Finance and Treasurer. |
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Lori Hunt is named the new Vice President of People. |
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We Love LA! SkyWest celebrates 30 years at Los Angeles International Airport. |
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Michael Thompson is named new Vice President – Market Development. |
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April 2: SkyWest Airlines begins service as Midwest Connect. |
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Mini Indy 2007 raises more than $80,000 for United Way Dixie. |
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SkyWest Airlines Maintenance Department is honored with the highest AMT Award. |
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June 19: SkyWest celebrates 35 years of Flight. |
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SkyWest begins Delta Connection service from San Luis Obispo, CA to Salt Lake City on June 11. |
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SkyWest begins Delta Connection Service from Salem, OR to Salt Lake City on June 7. |
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SkyWest begins Delta Connection Service from Yakima, WA to Salt Lake City on June 7. |
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July 19: SkyWest Airlines holds ribbon cutting ceremony for newly built Colorado Springs Hangar. |
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SkyWest begins United Express service from Bakersfield, CA to Denver on September 5. |
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On October 12, SkyWest announced plans to acquire 22 Regional Jets |
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SkyWest Delta Connection is chosen by the Department of Transportation to return to Cedar City, Utah
beginning January 8, 2008. |
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SkyWest celebrates 25 years in Idaho Falls, ID in September. |
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SkyWest Airlines Pilots vote to remain union free! |
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2008 |
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January 8: SkyWest celebrates its return to Cedar City, Utah! |
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January 11: SkyWest names Klen P. Brooks as Vice President of Flight Operations. |
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January 28: SkyWest begins service between Crescent City, Calif. (CEC) and Sacramento Calif. (SMF). |
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February 27: SkyWest expands scope of the Operations Safety and Compliance department, naming David Faddis Director. |
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March and April: Midwest Airlines transitions all Midwest Connect regional operations to SkyWest Airlines. |
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March 15: More than 40 teams make their way to St. George, Utah for SkyWest Airlines’ eighth annual Mini Indy, sponsored by Dixie State College and the City of St. George. The event raised $166,591 for charities and the SkyWest Scholarship Program. |
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July 7: United Express service from San Francisco to North Bend, Ore. (OTH) and Klamath Falls, Ore. (LTM) begins. |
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July 11: Delta Connection service from Salt Lake City to Gillette, Wyo. (GCC) and Rock Springs, Wyo. (RKS) begins. |
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August: SkyWest receives Bombardier’s 2007 Reliability Award for the Americas. |
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October 1: SkyWest opens its LAX Flight Attendant Domicile. |
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October 12: United Express service from Portland to Klamath Falls, Ore. (LTM) and North Bend, Ore. (OTH) begins. |
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2009 |
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January 28 - SkyWest Airlines offers “Fly St. George First” fares to Salt Lake City starting at $99* one way. |
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February 12 - SkyWest Airlines names Joe Sigg director of aircraft spares. |
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March 10 - United’s announces new non-stop daily service to Bismarck, N.D. and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. |
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April 22 - SkyWest Airlines is the proud recipient of Bombardier’s 2008 Annual Airline Reliability Performance Award. |
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May 1 - H1N1 (Swine Flu) Updates and Preventative Operations for restricted travel to Mexico and Canada. |
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May 27 - SkyWest Resumes Seasonal Service to Yellowstone Country, a service that has been in place for 23 years. |
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June 4 - SkyWest launches new United pro-rate service to seven new CRJ200 pro-rate lines begin out of Chicago, Denver, and San Francisco. These include: Chicago to Fort Wayne, Ind., Milwaukee, Wis. and Wausau, Wis.; Denver to Milwaukee, Wis.; and San Francisco to Ontario, Calif., Redmond, Ore. and Pasco, Wash. |
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June 4 - We're bringing scheduled service to Moses Lake, Washington for the first time in three years with our EMB 120 – welcome to the SkyWest family MWH! |
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June 10 - SkyWest, Inc. has reached a mutual understanding with Midwest Airlines to wind-down the service SkyWest Airlines, Inc. |
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June 23 - SkyWest Airlines plans to discontinue scheduled United Express flights between St. George, Utah and Los Angeles, Calif., effective September 1, 2009. |
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June 23 - SkyWest, Inc. today announced the appointment of Michael K. Young to the Board of Directors of SkyWest, Inc. and its subsidiaries, effective July 1, 2009. |
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July 1 - Klen Brooks celebrates 35 years with SkyWest! He started his career pumping gas, washing planes and checking in passengers. |
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July 7 - SkyWest Airlines is pleased to name Bill Mostowy Director – Operations Control Center. |
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September 1 - SkyWest Chairman and CEO, Jerry C. Atkin celebrates 35 years of service. |
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September 22 – United Airlines today announced it is launching new service from the airline’s hubs in Chicago, Denver and Los Angeles beginning December 17, while adding Duluth, Minn.; Asheville, N.C.; and Midland/Odessa, Texas. |
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October 20 - SkyWest Airlines, Inc. announces funding arrangement with United Airlines, extension of United Express flying and United Express flying for ASA. |
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November 4 - SkyWest Airlines and AirTran Airways forge a new partnership. We will operate five 50-seat Bombardier CRJ200 aircraft between Milwaukee’s General Mitchell International Airport and six destinations. SkyWest Airlines will offer new nonstop service from Milwaukee to Akron/Canton, Ohio; Des Moines, Iowa; and Omaha, Neb.; and will add frequency from Milwaukee to Indianapolis, Ind.; Pittsburgh, Pa.; and St. Louis, Mo. SkyWest Airlines will launch its first flights carrying the AirTran Airways’ code from Milwaukee to Pittsburgh and St. Louis beginning December 4, 2009. |
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November 16 - Russell “Chip” Childs, President and COO SkyWest Airlines, is elected Chair of the Board of Directors of the Regional Airline Association (RAA) for the 2009/2010 term. |
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