SkyWest Airlines 2012 Annual Report Download - page 7

PART I
Unless otherwise indicated in this Report, ‘‘SkyWest,’’ ‘‘we,’’ ‘‘us,’’ ‘‘our’’ and similar terms refer to
SkyWest, Inc. and ‘‘SkyWest Airlines’’ refers to our wholly-owned subsidiary, SkyWest Airlines, Inc.
Effective December 31, 2011, our subsidiary, ExpressJet Airlines, Inc. was merged into our subsidiary,
Atlantic Southeast Airlines, Inc., with the surviving corporation named ExpressJet Airlines, Inc. (the
‘‘ExpressJet Combination’’). In this Report, ‘‘Atlantic Southeast’’ refers to Atlantic Southeast Airlines, Inc.
for periods prior to the ExpressJet Combination, ‘‘ExpressJet Delaware’’ refers to ExpressJet Airlines, Inc., a
Delaware corporation, for periods prior to the ExpressJet Combination, and ‘‘ExpressJet’’ refers to ExpressJet
Airlines, Inc., the Utah corporation resulting from the combination of Atlantic Southeast and ExpressJet
Delaware, for periods subsequent to the ExpressJet Combination.
Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
Certain of the statements contained in this Report should be considered ‘‘forward-looking
statements’’ within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-
looking statements may be identified by words such as ‘‘may,’’ ‘‘will,’’ ‘‘expect,’’ ‘‘intend,’’ ‘‘anticipate,’’
‘‘believe,’’ ‘‘estimate,’’ ‘‘plan,’’ ‘‘project,’’ ‘‘could,’’ ‘‘should,’’ ‘‘hope,’’ ‘‘likely,’’ and ‘‘continue’’ and
similar terms used in connection with statements regarding our outlook, anticipated operations, the
revenue environment, our contractual relationships, and our anticipated financial performance. These
statements include, but are not limited to, statements about our future growth and development plans,
including our future financial and operating results, our plans for SkyWest Airlines and ExpressJet, our
objectives, expectations and intentions and other statements that are not historical facts. Readers
should keep in mind that all forward-looking statements are based on our existing beliefs about present
and future events outside of our control and on assumptions that may prove to be incorrect. If one or
more risks identified in this Report materializes, or any other underlying assumption proves incorrect,
our actual results will vary, and may vary materially, from those anticipated, estimated, projected, or
intended. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those described below in
Item 1A. Risk Factors.
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 applicable law.
ITEM 1. BUSINESS
General
Through SkyWest Airlines 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, US Airways Express,
American Eagle or Alaska under code-share arrangements with Delta, United Air Lines, Inc.
(‘‘United’’) US Airways Group, Inc. (‘‘US Airways’’), American Airlines, Inc. (‘‘American’’) and Alaska
Airlines (‘‘Alaska’’). SkyWest Airlines 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 December 31, 2011, Atlantic Southeast and ExpressJet Delaware completed the ExpressJet
Combination. Since November 17, 2011, the operations formerly conducted by Atlantic Southeast and
ExpressJet Delaware have been conducted under a single operating certificate issued by the U.S.
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