2. Executive Summary:
SkyWest Airlines is a North American airline. Headquartered in Utah, SkyWest is a
regional airline that flies to forty-two different states and 205 cities. Primarily being a feeder
airline they have contracts with a variety of major carriers including; Delta, United, and
American. SkyWest averages about 1,661 flights per day however on May 5th
they flew 1,518
flights, with an average departure delay of 14.6 minutes. SkyWest has 396 aircraft in their fleet,
yet only flew 219 different aircraft on this particular day.
3. SkyWest Airlines began in in 1972, started by a lawyer named, Ralph Atkin. The main
hub of this airline back then was Salt Lake City. By 1982, SkyWest became the eleventh largest
regional carrier in the United States and began its expansion to the rest of the country. This was
accomplished of the back of their fleet consisting only of Embraer 120s, the type that by the end
of this summer will no longer being flying in the SkyWest fleet. Instead the Airline hopes to
phase in the Mitsubishi MRJ90 and become an all-jet airline. At its inception SkyWest was
operating all flights in the early 1970s with
small propeller driven, piston engine aircraft
including: Piper Cherokee 140, Piper Cherokee
Arrow, Piper Cherokee Six, and a Piper
Navajo. Now they fly EMB 120, CRJ-100,
CRJ-200, CRJ-700, and CRJ-900s. On May 5th
2015, SkyWest flew 219 flights with five
different models of aircraft. SkyWest flew
twenty-five flights with the EMB 120, fifty-
seven flights with the CRJ-100, 877 flights
with the CRJ-200, 396 flights with the CRJ-
700, and 176 flights with the CRJ-900s. A comparison of the fleet and their flights can be seen in
the graph, “SkyWest Fleet.” As usual for a regional carrier, SkyWest never has very long stage
lengths, in fact the maximum distance was 211 miles and the average was 143 and the shortest
distance flown was just fourteen miles. The most
served airport for SkyWest is Salt Lake City
International Airport with 132 flights that day. The
second being Los Angeles with 125 flights, this is
followed Denver with 123 flights, and Chicago
O'Hare with 99, San Francisco with 82,
Minneapolis with 70 flights, Phoenix with 61,
George Bush Intercontinental with 37, Seattle with
37 flights as well, and Detroit with 28. An easier
representation of that data can be seen to the right on the graph labeled “Most Served Airports.”
The most served routes however differ, the top route for SkyWest being Los
4. Angeles to San Diego and then back again. Also Chicago O’Hare to Milwaukee and back, these
four routes take the top four spots for the most served in the country. Los Angeles to San Jose
and back again take the next two spots followed by Los Angeles to Sacramento and Denver to
Salt Lake City. The biggest passenger concentration is almost identical to the most served
airports list, the largest passenger aircraft SkyWest flies being the CRJ-900 holding about
seventy-six passengers with a full aircraft as well as the EMB-120. The CRJ-700 holds about 70
passengers while the CRJ-200, with aircraft with the most operations on May 5th
, only holds
about fifty passengers just as the CRJ-100. The largest passenger traffic by route does change,
simply by the numbers, the largest served route simply by passenger traffic is Los Angeles to
Oakland and is also tied with San Jose to Los Angeles. The next spot is a four-way tie between
John Wayne International to San Francisco, San Francisco to Ontario, Canada, Denver to Salt
Lake City, and Yuma, Arizona to Phoenix. The next four spots are also in a four-way tie
between: Seattle to Portland, Spokane to Seattle, Sacramento to Los Angeles, and San Francisco
to Santa Barbra.
Many airports have trouble getting SkyWest’s aircraft out on time. Los Angeles cancelled
five flights out of the thirteen that were cancelled throughout the day, and had an average delay
time of seven minutes. Bob Hope airport was the worst for delays with an average delay time of
thirty-four minutes and had the largest delay of the day of 418 minutes. San Luis Obispo County
Regional Airport follows closely behind with and average flight delay of twenty-nine minutes
and Santa Barbara with an average of twenty minutes. Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky
International Airport and Palm Springs both fall under the D15 zone and have and average of
fourteen minutes. After them San Francisco, Chicago O’Hare, and Denver all have an average
delay of 9 minutes. Los Angeles, while being one of the worst for delays, was also the best at
getting aircraft out on time. Eighty-five of the flights that took place for SkyWest at LAX were
out on time. Los Angles was followed closely by Denver with eight-three. Denver was then
followed by: Albuquerque, Atlanta, Boise, Bob Hope Airport, Colorado Springs, John Wayne,
Fresno, and George Bush International. Arriving on time is just as important as departing on time
and 109 of Salt Lake City’s total flights came in on time, Los Angeles being the next closest
contender with 77. Then they are followed by Tucson, San Francisco, Seattle, Palm Springs,
Phoenix, Minneapolis, and Denver. The city-pairs that had that the best departure statistics were:
Los Angeles- San Francisco; Los Angeles- San Jose; Denver- Salt Lake City; Oakland- Los
5. Angeles; Sacramento- Los Angeles; Bob Hope Airport- Salt Lake City; Denver- Sloulin Field,
North Dakota; and Los Angeles- Fresno. The city-pairs with the best arrival statistics were: Los
Angeles- San Francisco; Los Angeles- San Jose; Denver- Salt Lake City; Tucson- Salt Lake
City; Los Angeles- Sacramento; Phoenix- Palm Springs; Seattle- Boise; Oakland- Los Angeles;
and Phoenix-Yuma International. The city-pairs that had the worst departure statistics were: Bob
Hope AirPort- San Francisco; Denver-Colorado Springs; Arcata-Eureka Airport- San Francisco;
Asheville Regional Airport- Chicago O’Hare; Los Angeles- Monterey Regional Airport; Fort
Wayne- Chicago O’Hare; Chicago O’Hare- General Mitchell International Airport; Los Angeles-
Salt Lake City; and General Mitchell International Airport- Chicago O’Hare. The city-pairs that
had the worst on time arrival statistics were: Denver- Colorado Springs; Sacramento- Los
Angeles; Arcata-Eureka Airport- San Francisco; Los Angeles- Monterey Regional Airport;
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky- Chicago O’Hare; Memphis- Chicago O’Hare; Los Angeles-
Sacramento; General Mitchell International Airport- Chicago O’Hare; and Los Angeles-Salt
Lake City.
SkyWest’s first flight departure got out on time, the average departure delay was about
nine minutes, and arrival delay was seven and a half minutes. Seventy-seven percent of the
flights were out on time and eighty-eight percent were within D15. Sixty percent of the flights
arrived on time and seventy-four percent were there within A15. The CRJ-100 had 57 flight
operations and had an average delay of 8 minutes. Seventy-seven percent of the CRJ-100’s were
out on time and eighty-seven percent were out by D15. Only sixty-two percent of the CRJ-100’s
arrived on time however seventy-five made it within A15. The CRJ-200 had 867 flight
operations and had an average delay of 9 minutes. Seventy-four percent of the CRJ-200’s were
out on time and eighty-five percent were out by D15. Fifty-seven percent of the CRJ-200’s
arrived on time however seventy-one made it within A15. The CRJ-700 had 393 flight
operations and had an average delay of 4 minutes. Eighty-one percent of the CRJ-700’s were out
on time and ninety-three percent were out by D15. Fifty-seven percent of the CRJ-700’s arrived
on time but eighty percent made it within A15. The CRJ-900 had 176 flight operations and had
an average delay of 3 minutes. Eighty percent of the CRJ-900’s were out on time and ninety-two
percent were out by D15. Sixty-seven percent of the CRJ-900’s arrived on time yet seventy-
seven made it within A15. The EMB-120 had 25 flight operations and had an average delay of 1
6. minute. Eighty-eight percent of the EMB-120’s
were out on time and ninety-nine percent were out
by D15. Ninety-two percent of the EMB-120’s
arrived on time and one hundred percent made it
within A15. If you look at the graph to the right
named, “Aircraft Performance for the Day,” you
can see how the different type of aircraft received
as an average delay.
The worst airports that SkyWest was
involved with on this day were, San Jose,
Sacramento, San Francisco, Santa Barbra, and Salt Lake City. In all these cases them were either
extremely delay attempting to leave there or delayed attempting to land. Those top five had an
average departure delay of 30 minutes.
