Operating Revenues

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2024

Operating Revenues

Operating Revenues

(2) Operating Revenues

The Company recognizes revenue under its flying agreements and under its lease, airport services and other service agreements 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, on-time performance or other performance metrics. 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 three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, capacity purchase agreements represented approximately 87.0% and 88.4% of the Company’s flying agreements revenue, respectively.

Under the Company’s “prorate” arrangements, 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 determines 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. Certain routes under the Company’s prorate arrangements are subsidized by the U.S. Department of Transportation under the Essential Air Service (“EAS”) program, a program created to ensure small communities in the United States maintain a minimum level of scheduled air service. The EAS contracts are generally two years in duration and the Company recognizes EAS revenue on a per-completed-flight basis pursuant to the terms of each contract. Under the Company’s charter operations, SWC, the Company negotiates a fare for the charter flight with the customer. The performance obligation is met and revenue is recognized upon completion of the flight. For the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, prorate flying agreements and SWC revenue represented approximately 13.0% and 11.6% of the Company’s flying agreements revenue, respectively.

The following table represents the Company’s flying agreements revenue by type for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023 (in thousands):

	For the three months ended March 31,
	2024		2023
Capacity purchase agreements flight operations revenue (non-lease component)	$	544,160	$	468,916
Capacity purchase agreements fixed aircraft lease revenue		75,159		74,480
Capacity purchase agreements variable aircraft lease revenue		57,886		43,105
Prorate agreements and SWC revenue		101,084		77,337
Flying agreements revenue	$	778,289	$	663,838

The Company allocates the total consideration received under its capacity purchase agreements between lease and non-lease components based on stand-alone selling prices. A portion of the Company’s compensation under its capacity purchase agreements relates to operating the aircraft, identified as the non-lease component of the capacity purchase agreement. The Company recognizes revenue attributed to the non-lease component received as fixed-fees for each departure, flight hour or block hour on an as-completed basis for each reporting period. The Company recognizes revenue attributed to the non-lease component received as fixed monthly payments per aircraft 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. Accordingly, the Company’s revenue recognition will likely vary from the timing of cash receipts under the Company’s capacity purchase agreements. The Company refers to cash received under its capacity purchase agreements prior to recognizing revenue as “deferred revenue,” and the Company refers to revenue recognized prior to billing its major airline partners under its capacity purchase agreements as “unbilled revenue” for each reporting period. During the three months ended March 31, 2024, the Company recognized $0.7 million of previously deferred revenue associated with the non-lease fixed monthly payments under certain agreements and decreased unbilled revenue by $0.3 million under certain other agreements, compared to deferring revenue of $39.3 million and decreasing unbilled revenue by $3.3 million during the three months ended March 31, 2023.

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 accounted for 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 recognizes fixed monthly lease payments as lease revenue using the straight-line basis over the capacity purchase agreement term and variable lease payments in the period when the block hours are completed. The Company recognized $0.5 million of previously deferred lease revenue during the three months ended March 31, 2024, whereas the Company deferred recognizing lease revenue of $20.6 million during the three months ended March 31, 2023, under the straight-line basis. The Company has not separately stated aircraft rental income and aircraft rental expense in the consolidated statement of comprehensive income because the use of the aircraft is not a separate activity of the total service provided under the capacity purchase agreements.

The Company’s total deferred revenue balance as of March 31, 2024 was $373.4 million, including $58.0 million in other current liabilities and $315.4 million in other long-term liabilities. The Company’s unbilled revenue balance was $7.0 million as of March 31, 2024, including $1.1 million in other current assets and $5.9 million in other long-term assets. The Company’s total deferred revenue balance was $374.6 million as of December 31, 2023, including $61.0 million in other current liabilities and $313.6 million in other long-term liabilities. The Company’s unbilled revenue balance was $7.3 million as of December 31, 2023, including $1.2 million in other current assets and $6.1 million in other long-term assets.

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.

In several of the Company’s agreements, the Company is eligible to receive incentive compensation upon the achievement of certain performance criteria. The incentives are defined in the agreements and are measured and determined on a monthly, quarterly or semi-annual basis. At the end of each period during the term of an agreement, the Company calculates the incentives achieved during that period and recognizes revenue attributable to that agreement accordingly, subject to the variable constraint guidance under ASC Topic 606.

As of March 31, 2024, the Company had 475 aircraft in scheduled service or under contract pursuant to code-share agreements. The following table summarizes the significant provisions of each code-share agreement the Company has with each major airline partner through SkyWest Airlines:

United Express Agreements
Agreement	Aircraft type	Number of Aircraft	Term / Termination Dates
United Express Agreements (capacity purchase agreement)	• E175 • CRJ 700 • CRJ 200	93 19 70	• Individual aircraft have scheduled removal dates from 2024 to 2029
United Express Prorate Agreement	• CRJ 200	19*	• Terminable with 120-days’ notice
Total under United Express Agreements		201

Delta Connection Agreements
Agreement	Aircraft type	Number of Aircraft	Term / Termination Dates
Delta Connection Agreement (capacity purchase agreement)	• E175 • CRJ 900 • CRJ 700	85 35 5	• Individual aircraft have scheduled removal dates from 2025 to 2034
Delta Connection Prorate Agreement	• CRJ 900 • CRJ 700	6* 4*	•Terminable with 30-days’ notice
Total under Delta Connection Agreements		135

American Capacity Purchase Agreement
Agreement	Aircraft type	Number of Aircraft	Term / Termination Dates
American Agreement (capacity purchase agreement)	• E175 • CRJ 700	20 77	• Individual aircraft have scheduled removal dates from 2024 to 2032
Total under American Agreement		97

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

* The Company’s prorate agreements are based on specific routes, not a specific aircraft count. The number of aircraft listed above for each prorate agreement approximates the number of aircraft the Company uses to serve the prorate routes.

In addition to the contractual arrangements described above, as of March 31, 2024, SkyWest Airlines reached agreements to place the following E175 aircraft under a capacity purchase agreement with the respective major airline partners:

	2024	2025	2026	Total
Delta Air Lines	1	—	—	1
United Airlines(1)	21	7	8	36
Alaska Airlines	—	1	—	1
Total	22	8	8	38

(1) 17 of the E175 deliveries scheduled for 2024 are partner-financed so the aircraft will be provided by the major airline partner for SkyWest to operate.

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 major airline partner when the aircraft is provided by the major airline partner, 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 disassembling aircraft components such as the engines and parts to be used as spare inventory.

Lease, airport services and other revenues primarily consist of revenue generated from aircraft and spare engines leased to third parties and from airport customer service agreements, such as gate and ramp agent services at various airports where the Company has been contracted by third parties to provide such services.. The following table

represents the Company’s lease, airport services and other revenues for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023 (in thousands):

	For the three months ended March 31,
	2024		2023
Operating lease revenue	$	16,668	$	16,560
Airport customer service and other revenue		8,657		11,433
Lease, airport services and other	$	25,325	$	27,993

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 March 31, 2024 (in thousands):

April 2024 through December 2024	$	34,787
2025		41,476
2026		35,946
2027		35,915
2028		35,139
Thereafter		53,500
Total future minimum rental income under operating leases	$	236,763

Of the Company’s $5.5 billion of net property and equipment as of March 31, 2024, $210.4 million of regional jet aircraft and spare engines were 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 resolution of unresolved items 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 March 31, 2024, the Company had gross receivables of $89.5 million in current assets and gross receivables of $203.9 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, notes receivable or guarantees. During the three months ended March 31, 2024, there were no significant changes in the outstanding accounts receivable, notes receivable, guarantees or credit ratings of the entities.

The following table summarizes the changes in allowance for credit losses:

	Allowance for Credit Losses
Balance at December 31, 2023	$	18,699
Adjustments to credit loss reserves		943
Write-offs charged against allowance		—
Balance at March 31, 2024	$	19,642