Flying Agreements Revenue and Lease, Airport Services and Other Revenues

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2022

Flying Agreements Revenue and Lease, Airport Services and Other Revenues

Flying Agreements Revenue and Lease, Airport Services and Other Revenues

(2) Flying Agreements Revenue and Lease, Airport Services and Other Revenues

The Company recognizes flying agreements revenue and lease, airport services and other revenues when the service is provided under the applicable agreement. Under the Company’s fixed-fee arrangements (referred to as “capacity purchase agreements”) with United Airlines, Inc. (“United”), Delta Air Lines, Inc. (“Delta”), American Airlines, Inc. (“American”) and Alaska Airlines, Inc. (“Alaska”) (each, a “major airline partner”), the major airline partner generally pays the Company a fixed-fee for each departure, flight hour (measured from takeoff to landing, excluding taxi time) or block hour (measured from takeoff to landing, including taxi time) incurred, and an amount per aircraft in service each month with additional incentives based on flight completion and on-time performance. The major airline partner also directly pays for or reimburses the Company for certain direct expenses incurred under the capacity purchase agreement, such as fuel, airport landing fees and airport rents. Under the capacity purchase agreements, the Company’s performance obligation is met when each flight is completed, measured in completed block hours, and is reflected in flying agreements revenue. The transaction price for the capacity purchase agreements is determined from the fixed-fee consideration, incentive consideration and directly reimbursed expenses earned as flights are completed over the agreement term. For the nine months ended September 30, 2022 and 2021, capacity purchase agreements represented approximately 88.0% and 83.9% of the Company’s flying agreements revenue, respectively.

Under the Company’s prorate arrangements (also referred to as a “prorate” or “revenue-sharing” agreement), the major airline partner and the Company negotiate a passenger fare proration formula, pursuant to which the Company receives a percentage of the ticket revenues for those passengers traveling for one portion of their trip on a Company airline and the other portion of their trip on the major airline partner. Under the Company’s prorate flying agreements, the performance obligation is met, and revenue is recognized when each flight is completed based upon the portion of the prorate passenger fare the Company anticipates that it will receive for each completed flight. The transaction price for the prorate agreements is determined from the proration formula derived from each passenger ticket amount on each completed flight over the agreement term. For the nine months ended September 30, 2022 and 2021, prorate flying agreements represented approximately 12.0% and 16.1% of the Company’s flying agreements revenue, respectively.

The following table represents the Company’s flying agreements revenue by type for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2022 and 2021 (in thousands):

	For the three months ended September 30,				For the nine months ended September 30,
	2022		2021		2022		2021
Capacity purchase agreements revenue: flight operations	$	376,596	$	308,273	$	1,112,526	$	792,501
Capacity purchase agreements revenue: aircraft lease and fixed revenue		292,174		282,498		864,178		770,548
Prorate agreements revenue		94,744		128,313		268,647		300,193
Flying agreements revenue	$	763,514	$	719,084	$	2,245,351	$	1,863,242

A portion of the Company’s compensation under its capacity purchase agreements is designed to reimburse the Company for certain aircraft ownership costs. The consideration for aircraft ownership costs varies by agreement but is intended to cover either the Company’s aircraft principal and interest debt service costs, its aircraft depreciation and interest expense or its aircraft lease expense costs while the aircraft is under contract. The consideration received for the use of the aircraft under the Company’s capacity purchase agreements is reflected as lease revenue, inasmuch as the agreements identify the “right of use” of a specific type and number of aircraft over a stated period of time. The lease revenue associated with the Company’s capacity purchase agreements is accounted for as an operating lease and is reflected as flying agreements revenue on the Company’s consolidated statements of comprehensive income. The Company has not separately stated aircraft rental income and aircraft rental expense in the consolidated statement of comprehensive income since the use of the aircraft is not a separate activity of the total service provided.

Under the Company’s capacity purchase agreements, the Company is paid a fixed amount per month per aircraft over the contract term. The Company recognizes revenue attributed to the fixed monthly payments proportionate to the number of block hours completed during each reporting period, relative to the estimated number of block hours the Company anticipates completing over the remaining contract term. Due to the lower number of block hours completed during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to historical levels, the amount of cash collected for the fixed amount per aircraft exceeded the revenue recognized based on block hours completed. Accordingly, the Company deferred recognizing revenue on fixed monthly cash payments the Company received under its capacity purchase agreements beginning in 2020. Based on the number of completed block hours during the nine months ended September 30, 2022, the Company recognized $25.8 million of previously deferred revenue and $14.4 million of unbilled revenue, compared to deferring revenue of $7.7 million during the nine months ended September 30, 2021. The Company’s deferred revenue balance was $78.1 million as of September 30, 2022, including $1.7 million in other current liabilities and $76.4 million in other long-term liabilities. The Company’s deferred revenue balance was $103.9 million as of December 31, 2021, including $24.5 million in other current liabilities and $79.4 million in other long-term liabilities. The Company’s unbilled revenue balance was $22.8 million as of September 30, 2022, including $13.2 million in other current assets and $9.6 million in other long-term assets. The Company’s unbilled revenue balance was $8.4 million as of December 31, 2021, and was included in other long-term assets. The Company’s deferred revenue and unbilled revenue balance will be recognized based on the number of block hours completed during each period relative to the estimated number of block hours the Company anticipates completing over the remaining contract term.

The Company’s capacity purchase and prorate agreements include weekly provisional cash payments from the respective major airline partner based on a projected level of flying each month. The Company and each major airline partner subsequently reconcile these payments to the actual completed flight activity on a monthly or quarterly basis.

As of September 30, 2022, the Company had 530 aircraft in scheduled service or under contract under code-share agreements. The following table summarizes the significant provisions of each code-share agreement SkyWest Airlines has with each major airline partner:

United Express Agreements
Agreement	Aircraft type	Number of Aircraft	Term / Termination Dates
United Express Agreements (Capacity purchase agreement)	• E175 • CRJ 700 • CRJ 200	90 19 70	• Individual aircraft have scheduled removal dates from 2024 to 2029
United Express Prorate Agreement (Prorate agreement)	• CRJ 200	41	• Terminable with 120-day notice
Total under United Express Agreements		220

Delta Connection Agreements
Agreement	Aircraft type	Number of Aircraft	Term / Termination Dates
Delta Connection Agreement (Capacity purchase agreement)	• E175 • CRJ 900 • CRJ 700 • CRJ 200	80 44 5 9	• Individual aircraft have scheduled removal dates from 2022 to 2032
Delta Connection Prorate Agreement (Prorate agreement)	• CRJ 200	20	• Terminable with 30-day notice
Total under Delta Connection Agreements		158

American Capacity Purchase Agreement
Agreement	Aircraft type	Number of Aircraft	Term / Termination Dates
American Agreement (Capacity purchase agreement)	• E175 • CRJ 700	20 90	• Individual aircraft have scheduled removal dates from 2022 to 2032
Total under American Agreement		110

Alaska Capacity Purchase Agreement
Agreement	Aircraft type	Number of Aircraft	Term / Termination Dates
Alaska Agreement (Capacity purchase agreement)	• E175	42	• Individual aircraft have scheduled removal dates from 2030 to 2034

In addition to the contractual arrangements described above, as of September 30, 2022, SkyWest Airlines has a capacity purchase agreement with Delta to place seven additional Embraer E175 regional jet aircraft (“E175”) into service, with delivery dates currently scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2022 through 2024. SkyWest Airlines has a capacity purchase agreement with Alaska to place one additional E175 aircraft into service, with a delivery date currently scheduled for 2025. SkyWest Airlines also has an agreement with American to place 11 used Canadair CRJ700 regional jet aircraft (“CRJ700”) under a multi-year capacity purchase agreement in 2023.

Final delivery and in-service dates for aircraft to be placed under contract may be adjusted based on various factors.

When an aircraft is scheduled to be removed from a capacity purchase arrangement, the Company may, as practical under the circumstances, negotiate an extension with the respective major airline partner, negotiate the placement of the aircraft with another major airline partner, return the aircraft to the lessor if the aircraft is leased and the lease is expiring, place owned aircraft for sale, or pursue other uses for the aircraft. Other uses for the aircraft may include placing the aircraft in a prorate agreement, leasing the aircraft to a third party or parting out the aircraft to use the engines and parts as spare inventory or to lease the engines to a third party.

Lease, airport services and other revenues primarily consists of revenue generated from aircraft and spare engines leased to third parties and airport customer services, such as gate and ramp agent services at applicable airports where the Company has agreements with third parties. The following table represents the Company’s lease, airport services and other revenues for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2022 and 2021 (in thousands):

	For the three months ended September 30,				For the nine months ended September 30,
	2022		2021		2022		2021
Operating lease revenue	$	15,928	$	17,746	$	48,933	$	49,154
Airport customer service and other revenue		10,001		7,953		29,396		23,932
Lease, airport services and other	$	25,929	$	25,699	$	78,329	$	73,086

The following table summarizes future minimum rental income under operating leases primarily related to leased aircraft and engines that had remaining non-cancelable lease terms as of September 30, 2022 (in thousands):

October 2022 through December 2022	$	11,918
2023		47,303
2024		45,279
2025		40,317
2026		34,758
Thereafter		121,524
	$	301,099

Of the Company’s $5.6 billion of property and equipment, net, as of September 30, 2022, $234.7 million of regional jet aircraft and spare engines was leased to third parties under operating leases. The Company’s mitigation strategy for the residual asset risks of these assets includes leasing aircraft and engine types that can be operated by the Company in the event of a default. Additionally, the operating leases typically have specified lease return condition requirements paid by the lessee to the Company and the Company typically maintains inspection rights under the leases.

The transaction price for airport customer service agreements is determined from an agreed-upon rate by location applied to the applicable number of flights handled by the Company over the agreement term.

The Company’s operating revenues could be impacted by several factors, including changes to the Company’s code-share agreements with its major airline partners, changes in flight schedules, contract modifications resulting from contract renegotiations, the Company’s ability to earn incentive payments contemplated under the Company’s code-share agreements and settlement of reimbursement disputes with the Company’s major airline partners.

Other ancillary revenues commonly associated with airlines, such as baggage fee revenue, ticket change fee revenue and the marketing component of the sale of mileage credits, are retained by the Company’s major airline partners on flights that the Company operates under its code-share agreements.

Allowance for credit losses

The Company monitors publicly available credit ratings for entities for which the Company has a significant receivable balance. As of September 30, 2022, the Company had gross receivables of $94.2 million in current assets and gross receivables of $227.6 million in other long-term assets. The Company has established credit loss reserves based on publicly available historic default rates issued by a third party for companies with similar credit ratings, factoring in the term of the respective accounts receivable or notes receivable. During the nine months ended September 30, 2022, there were no significant changes in the outstanding accounts receivable or notes receivable or the credit ratings of the entities. The Company’s credit loss reserve was $38.0 million at September 30, 2022, compared to $42.0 million at December 31, 2021. The $4.0 million decrease in the credit loss reserve for the nine months ended September 30, 2022, was reflected as a decrease to the credit loss expense.