SkyWest starts operating for Alaska Airlines as Alaska SkyWest

SkyWest Airlines (St. George) in March 2011 entered into a capacity purchase agreement with Alaska Airlines (Seattle/Tacoma) to operate five Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet aircraft as Alaska SkyWest. The term of the agreement is seven years and SkyWest Airlines is reimbursed under a methodology similar to its existing capacity purchase agreements with other major partners. SkyWest started operating for Alaska under this agreement on May 14, 2011. SkyWest Airlines has also entered into a sublease arrangement with Horizon Air (Seattle/Tacoma) for the five CRJ700s. Horizon Air is phasing out the CRJ700.

SkyWest is operating the five 70-seat aircraft from Seattle/Tacoma and Portland, OR on West Coast routes to California. SkyWest will operate and maintain the aircraft. Alaska is responsible for scheduling, pricing and marketing of the flights.

Copyright Photo: F18E777. Formerly operated by Horizon as N601QX, this Bombardier CRJ700 (CL-600-2C10) is now registered as N215AG (msn 10009). N215AG is pictured at Portland on May 13.