Earlier this month, the St. George-based carrier added a trio of Bombardier CRJ-700 jetliners that will be stationed at Salt Lake City International Airport, beginning April 1. SkyWest will operate the jets under its marketing agreement with Delta Air Lines.
Another two CRJ-700s will join the SkyWest fleet next month and go into service in May, Chairman Jerry Atkin said Wednesday.
"Right now, there will be five that will be operated by SkyWest under the Delta Connection banner. Beyond those five, it's a bit uncertain. We do have 17 additional 700s on order for Delta, and some will go to Atlanta [to be operated by its Atlantic Southeast Airlines subsidiary] and some [probably] will go to Salt Lake," Atkin said.
ASA and SkyWest are subsidiaries of SkyWest Inc., which has close to 90 CRJ-700 jetliners. Until now, only ASA flew CRJ-700s for Delta, while SkyWest flew them for United Airlines under the United Express banner.
Atkin said even bigger aircraft may be in the works for its Delta Connection service. Delta is negotiating with its pilots for permission to hire regional airlines like SkyWest and ASA to fly jets with more than 70 passengers. If the pilots agree, SkyWest could acquire 90-seat aircraft.
SkyWest is moving to larger jets because there is a need for them in some of its markets. And the cost of flying larger aircraft is cheaper, Atkin said.
pbeebe@sltrib.com
In other airline news
* Delta Air Lines Inc. is living off borrowed cash and needs to lower its costs if it wants to avoid the fate of nearly a dozen carriers that have liquidated or been sold after filing for Chapter 11 since the 1980s, a restructuring expert testified Wednesday. Timothy Coleman of The Blackstone Group LP, Delta's main financial adviser, said Delta needs to have a cost structure comparable to competitors so it can afford to keep its ticket prices low. He provided a list of 11 airlines that filed for bankruptcy since 1982 but ultimately had to liquidate or be sold. The pilots union has said it will strike if its contract is rejected.
* Northwest Airlines Corp. said on Wednesday that it will cooperate with Labor Department investigators looking into its underfunded pension plan. Labor is investigating ''whether any person has violated or is about to violate'' pension law, according to a letter sent with the subpoena issued in January. Northwest said it paid its pension obligations in full and on time until it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sept. 14. However, it did avoid a $65 million payment to its pension plan that would have been due the next day by filing for protection, it said at the time.
* United Airlines said that it will cut 100 jobs in Australia as it streamlines its operations. The airline said customer service and ground handling at Melbourne and Sydney airports would be outsourced in May, followed by reservations in early June.
