SkyWest Airlines 2010 Annual Report Download - page 8

• unionization efforts among SkyWest Airlines’ employees; and
• other risks and uncertainties listed from time to time in our reports filed with the SEC.
There may be other factors that may affect matters discussed in forward-looking statements set
forth in this Report, which factors may also cause actual results to differ materially from those
discussed. We assume no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement to reflect actual
results, changes in assumptions or changes in other factors affecting these statements other than as
required by law.
ITEM 1. BUSINESS
General
Through SkyWest Airlines, Atlantic Southeast and ExpressJet, we offer scheduled passenger service
with approximately 4,000 daily departures to destinations in the United States, Canada, Mexico and the
Caribbean. Substantially all of our flights are operated as Delta Connection, United Express,
Continental Express or AirTran under code-share arrangements with Delta, United, Continental or
AirTran, respectively, with significant presence in Delta’s, United’s and Continental’s key domestic hubs
and focus cities. SkyWest Airlines, Atlantic Southeast and ExpressJet generally provide regional flying
to our partners under long-term, fixed-fee code-share agreements. Among other features of our
fixed-fee agreements, our partners generally reimburse us for specified direct operating expenses
(including fuel expense, which is passed through to our partners), and pay us a fee for operating the
aircraft.
On November 12, 2010, we completed the acquisition of ExpressJet via the merger of Express
Delaware Merger Co., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Atlantic Southeast (the ‘‘Merger Subsidiary’’), with
and into ExpressJet Holdings, Inc., the parent company of ExpressJet (‘‘ExpressJet Holdings’’), with
ExpressJet Holdings continuing as the surviving company in the merger and becoming a wholly-owned
subsidiary of Atlantic Southeast (the ‘‘ExpressJet Merger’’).
At the effective time of the ExpressJet Merger, each issued and outstanding share of ExpressJet
Holdings common stock (other than shares of ExpressJet Holdings common stock owned by ExpressJet
Holdings as treasury stock or shares of ExpressJet Holdings common stock owned by SkyWest, Merger
Subsidiary or any other wholly-owned subsidiary of SkyWest) was converted into the right to receive
$6.75 per share in cash, payable to the holder thereof, without interest. Based on the number of
outstanding shares of ExpressJet Holdings common stock as of the effective time of the ExpressJet
Merger, the aggregate value of the ExpressJet Merger consideration was $131.6 million. After taking
into effect the number of shares acquired by SkyWest, Merger Subsidiary and any other wholly-owned
subsidiaries of SkyWest prior to the effective time of the ExpressJet Merger, the aggregate value of the
ExpressJet Merger consideration was $136.5 million.
SkyWest Airlines, Atlantic Southeast and ExpressJet have developed industry-leading reputations
for providing quality, low-cost regional airline service during their long operating histories. SkyWest
Airlines has been flying since 1972, Atlantic Southeast since 1979 and ExpressJet since 1986. As of
December 31, 2010, our consolidated fleet consisted of a total of 710 aircraft, of which 246 were
assigned to Delta, 242 were assigned to United, 206 were assigned to Continental, four were subleased
to other affiliated entities, four were assigned to AirTran, three were assigned to ExpressJet’s charter
operations, three were designated as spare maintenance aircraft and two were subleased to other
un-affiliated entities. We currently operate two types of regional jet aircraft: the Bombardier Aerospace
(‘‘Bombardier’’) regional jet, which comes in three different configurations (the 50-seat Bombardier
CRJ200 Regional Jet (the ‘‘CRJ200’’)), the 70-seat Bombardier CRJ700 Regional Jet (the ‘‘CRJ700’’)
and the 70-90-seat Bombardier CRJ900 Regional Jet (the ‘‘CRJ900’’) and the 50-seat Embraer ERJ-145
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