SkyWest Airlines

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SkyWest Airlines, Inc. is a North American regional airline headquartered in St. George, Utah, USA, flying to 159 cities in 40 U.S. states, 6 Canadian Provinces, and 1 city in Mexico. The airline serves as a feeder airline, operating under contract with various major carriers. It flies as SkyWest Airlines in a partnership with United Express on behalf of United Airlines, as US Airways Express on behalf of Airways, and as Delta Connection on behalf of Delta Air Lines.

SkyWest Airlines is one of two airlines owned by SkyWest, Inc. (the other being ExpressJet Airlines). Combined the two airlines make up the tenth-largest airline in terms of number of planes, operating 440 regional aircraft.

As of 2010, SkyWest employs over 11,000 people throughout North America. The airline operates 1,750 departures a day, with 522 operating Delta Connection and 1,197 operating as United Express. In total, SkyWest carried 24.3 million passengers in 2010.

History
Frustrated by the limited extent of existing air service, Ralph Atkin, a St. George, Utah lawyer, purchased Dixie Airlines to shuttle businessmen to Salt Lake City in 1972. After early struggles, SkyWest began steady expansion across the Western US. It became the eleventh largest regional carrier in 1984 when it acquired Sun Aire Lines of Palm Springs, California, and had its initial public offering in 1986.

In 1985 SkyWest began codesharing as Western Express, a feeder service for Western Airlines at their Salt Lake City hub, later acquired by Delta. In 1995 SkyWest began operating flights for Continental out of LAX. The relationship was discontinued two years later when SkyWest began flying for United Airlines. SkyWest's United Express flights out of LAX, SFO, and DEN became its largest operation by the late 1990s. A partnership with Continental Airlines was revived in 2003 out of IAH, and was discontinued June 2005. On Monday, August 15, 2005, Delta announced that it was selling Atlantic Southeast Airlines to the newly incorporated SkyWest, Inc. for $425 million in cash, and on Thursday, September 8, 2005, SkyWest, Inc. announced that the acquisition had been completed.

Through SkyWest Airlines and ASA, the company operates the largest regional airline in the United States. The current President and CEO of SkyWest Inc. is Jerry Atkin, with Chip Childs as acting president and COO of SkyWest Airlines.

On August 4, 2010 SkyWest Inc. announced that it planned to acquire ExpressJet Airlines and merge it with SkyWest subsidiary Atlantic Southeast Airlines. The deal was reported to have a value of $133 million. The purchase aligned the largest commuter operations of United and Continental Airlines- currently in a merger process approved September 13, 2010 by the Federal Trade Commission.

In February 2011, Alaska Airlines announced SkyWest will be replacing six Horizon Air flights on the West Coast beginning May 14. The flights are scheduled to base out of Seattle and Portland and fly to several California cities including Fresno, Burbank, Santa Barbara and Ontario. Alaska Airlines has similar agreements with PenAir for Alaskan flights and Horizon Air for flights in the lower 48.

Since 2010 SkyWest owns 20% of the shares of TRIP Linhas Aéreas, the biggest Brazilian regional operator.

SkyWest also announced that it will end codesharing and partnership with AirTran Airways effective September 6, 2011.

SkyWest announced that it will begin a codesharing agreement with US Airways effective early to mid 2012 operating CRJ-200 aircraft from US Airways' hub in Phoenix, Ariz.

Destinations
SkyWest flies to 159 destinations throughout North America including Denver International Airport, Salt Lake City International Airport, San Francisco International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, Chicago O'Hare International Airport, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and Portland International Airport.

Fleet
As of October, 2010, the SkyWest fleet includes the following 294 aircraft :

Accidents and incidents

 * January 15, 1987: Skywest Airlines Flight 1834 a Fairchild Metro collided with a Mooney M20 transporting an instructor and a student, while on a flight between Pocatello to Salt Lake City in the vicinity of Kearns. All 10 people on Flight 1834 and the two occupants of the Mooney were killed.


 * January 15, 1990: Skywest Airlines Flight 5855, a Fairchild Metro collided with terrain during an instrument approach to Elko, Nevada. There were 4 serious and 9 minor injuries.


 * February 1, 1991: Skywest Airlines Flight 5569, a Fairchild Metro was awaiting departure clearance on an active runway at Los Angeles for a scheduled flight between Los Angeles and Palmdale when USAir Flight 1493 arriving from Columbus, Ohio collided with it while it was landing. Skywest 5569 was directed to move onto runway 24L for takeoff and hold in position at the intersection of taxiway 45. US1493 was cleared to land on 24L one minute later by the same local controller. One minute later, the 737 touched down, then landed on the SkyWest Metro, which was still holding in position 2400' from the runway threshold. The two planes slid down the runway, then off to the side, coming to rest against an unoccupied firehouse, and burst into flames. All 12 people on the Metro were killed (10 passengers and 2 pilots), and 22 of the 89 aboard the 737 perished (20 passengers, 1 pilot and 1 flight attendant).


 * May 21, 1997: Skywest Flight 724, an Embraer EMB-120, N198SW, experienced a total loss of engine power to the right engine and associated engine fire, followed by a total loss of all airplane hydraulic systems, after takeoff from San Diego International-Lindbergh Field, San Diego, California. The airplane sustained substantial damage. The 2 pilots, 1 flight attendant, and 14 passengers were not injured. Skywest Airlines, Inc., was operating the airplane as a scheduled, domestic, passenger flight under 14 CFR Part 121. The flight was destined for Los Angeles, California. It diverted to Miramar NAS, San Diego, where it landed at 1427. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time, and an IFR flight plan was filed. http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20001208X07943&key=1


 * May 26, 2007: SkyWest Airlines flight 5741, an Embraer 120, was involved in a serious runway incursion when the plane nearly collided with Republic Airlines flight 4912, an Embraer 170, on intersecting runways at San Francisco. There were no reported injuries to passengers and no reported damage to either aircraft. According to the NTSB the FAA traffic controller was at fault and the aircraft were between 50 and 300 feet apart.


 * January 13, 2008: A United Airlines Boeing 757 jet with maintenance workers on board at San Francisco International Airport backed into SkyWest Airlines Flight 6398, a Bombardier CRJ700 carrying 60 passengers and crew. The collision occurred at 7:30 p.m. as the 757 was being taken out of service and being moved without passengers from Gate 80 to a hangar for the night. The passengers on board the SkyWest plane were taken off the plane, which had left its gate and was waiting to depart to Boise, Idaho.  Both planes suffered tail and engine damage, but no one on board either plane was injured.


 * September 7, 2008: SkyWest Airlines flight 6430, a Bombardier CRJ700 operating as a United Express flight from Los Angeles, California ran off a runway after landing in San Antonio, Texas. An airport spokesman indicated that the aircraft appeared to be having mechanical difficulties, and resulted in the airport's primary runway being closed for two hours until the aircraft could be removed.  No injuries were reported among the 52 passengers and four crew members on board.


 * May 23, 2010: SkyWest Airlines flight 6467, a Bombardier CRJ200 operating as a United Express flight from San Francisco, California landed in Ontario, California with the nose gear retracted. No injuries were reported among the 24 passengers and three crew aboard.