Back in the immediate aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, airlines were scrambling. There were so many pilots that took an early retirement that nobody was ready for the very quick rebound in demand that led to a rapid increase in flights. The big airlines just kept taking pilots from their regionals, and the regionals were left scrambling to find anyone who was qualified. That’s when a plan fell into place for the largest regional SkyWest to fix its problem. Now, three years later, it’s been approved, but times are different and I’m not sure this is useful any longer.
SkyWest’s plan at the time was to create a new subsidiary called SkyWest Charter (SWC). Instead of flying under normal Part 121 rules, SWC would be a Part 135 operator. It would then use Part 380 authority to fly public charters. I’ve written about the mechanics of this before, so I don’t need to get into the weeds of it all. This is the kind of flying that JSX and Contour do. (SkyWest, by the way, now owns a chunk of Contour, another thing that has changed since the original filing.)
For an airline like SWC, the big benefit would have been the ability to have pilots fly the airplanes with fewer hours. SkyWest had enough pilots to operate most of its flying that was under a traditional “capacity purchase” agreement with the big airlines. Those airlines pay SkyWest to do the flying, so there is limited risk. But SkyWest also does “prorate” flying which is where it takes on all the risk, but it still is able to fly under the big airline brand.
If you think about all the flying that SkyWest does, it’s the 25 CRJ-200s flying prorate under the United Express banner that have to be at the bottom of the priority list. These airplanes fly mostly on Essential Air Service routes subsidized by the government, and they are the first things to get squeezed in a pilot shortage.
So, SkyWest turned to this SWC plan which would have an easier time finding pilots who could operate under Part 135 rules. The other big benefit of Part 135 is that it can fly out of non-traditional terminals. That’s why JSX really likes it, but for SWC which would want to seamlessly connect into United’s hubs, that was never appealing. This was a pilot play.
The only real downside is that to operate under Part 380/135, you can’t have more than 30 seats onboard. So SWC would take some of its 50-seat CRJ-200s — 18 to be exact — and reduce them to have only 30 seats. It’s not like these EAS routes would usually fill more than 30 seats anyway. Problem solved.
SWC was created in 2022 and up and running as a pure charter operator in 2023, but it needed commuter air carrier authorization in order to be able to operate under this scheme. The application was filed on June 21, 2022, and the Department of Transportation (DOT) promptly — and obnoxiously — did absolutely nothing with it.
It’s important to put this timing into context. At the time, SkyWest listed 25 routes that it wanted to switch to have SWC operate.
Maps generated by the Great Circle Mapper – copyright © Karl L. Swartz.
This is the peak of SkyWest’s pilot troubles. Take a look at how these cities were served in June 2022.
Map via Cirium
SkyWest was really struggling, running tag flights like Chicago – Decatur – Fort Leonard Wood and round-robins like Chicago – Mason City – Fort Dodge – Chicago. It was doing everything it could to keep serving these cities with its reduced pilot corps, but being able to move to SWC would provide real relief.
There was nothing wrong with SWC’s application. It was obviously fit to operate, but it got caught up in the fight against this type of operation. Airlines like American and Southwest fought this, primarily because they don’t like JSX being able to compete with them. The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) fought it because it would weaken the upper hand the scarcity of pilots had given them.
The reality through all this was that SWC was completely qualified under the law. If the laws change to eliminate or alter the ability to use Part 380/135, that’s a different issue. But that shouldn’t have stopped SWC from being approved. Now, with a new administration in place, it has magically received the green light.
With SWC approved (pending any objections which I can’t imagine will change anything), it is now free to implement the plan that it wanted to put into place three years ago. The thing is, times have changed and it probably doesn’t want to implement the same plan anyway.
The 18 CRJ-200s are in the SWC fleet as originally expected, and of these 25 cities, SkyWest still serves most of them. The only ones it lost were Pueblo (CO) to Southern Airways Express and both Vernal (UT) and Paducah (KY) to Contour. But even with the 22 that remain, service looks a lot different than it did in 2022. Here is the current plan for June 2025:
Map via Cirium
There is now just one lonely round-robin left, and frequencies are up as well. Here’s another interesting way to look at it:
Data via Cirium
You can see that in mid-2022, the number of flights dipped a little but the block time tanked. That’s because they used all those tags and round-robins to keep service going with fewer cities. But now you can see that since last fall, block time has climbed back up again as the ability to fly these routes straight into the hub returns.
But here’s where it gets even less relevant. Even if there was a pilot shortage, the approval reiterates this:
SWC has stated it will use dual captains holding ATP certificates on its flight decks, utilize active flight dispatching, adhere to FAR Part 117 rest requirements, and implement Safety Management Systems and Advanced Qualification Program training. SWC also stated it plans to operate only at airports
with traditional TSA security checkpoints.
This means it isn’t looking to use pilots at all who aren’t qualified to fly Part 121. The only real benefit at this point is the ability to use pilots who are older than the mandated age 65 retirement for Part 121. That’s great and all, but again, the pilot shortage doesn’t seem to be a problem.
So… then what’s the point? Why does SkyWest still want to do this? Maybe it’s because the airplanes have already been converted into 30 seats and painted, and it wants to scrap the ones currently flying? Maybe it wants to prepare itself to operate during future pilot shortages? Maybe there’s something about the private charter work that’s made easier with a Part 135 operation. Or maybe it’s just stubborn and wants to follow through.
We will, of course, learn more once this approval is finalized and SkyWest announces its plans.
14 comments on “SkyWest Charter Finally Gets Approved, But It’s Not Clear Why Anyone Should Care”
It sounded like a good idea at the time, but it looks like Skywst missed the plane with this charter service plan.
I believe Moab (CNY) also lost its SkyWest service to Contour due to this same issue.
Whether SKYW uses its newfound benefits now or not, gaining benefits that could be used in the future is the real win.
Agree, not certain how maintaining flexibility is “stubborn.” See if and how it plays out, maybe not on route maps/in city pairs even, but as a pilot pipeline option.
Brian – Not stubborn at all to have SkyWest Charter flying as it has been for two years now. But the commuter authorization just doesn’t really matter at this point. The feds should have acted on it earlier, but now there’s not much value in it.
I think there’s another shoe to drop here. Contour has made some changes that looks like it may be moving away from aligning itself with AA and moving toward UA. It has moved EAS flights MCN-BWI flights to IAD and shifted PBG-PHL to IAD, having signed in interline agreement with UA late last year.
Likewise, it has moved one each of two daily CNY/VEL-PHX flights to DEN.
It has to be painfully expensive for Contour to have and operation in DEN for 2 daily flights and have the costs of providing EAS to those place from 2 cities.
And finally, it is slowly moving its EAS service in the Mississippi valley away from BNA and consolidating it in ORD.
Skywest said when it bought its 25% stake in Contour it did so both for captain development and to put its CRJ’s to better use.
We’ll know in a couple of weeks when the DOT issues its final order for SWC.
Unless CNY and VEL somehow lowered the EAS amount, I’d imagine it’s cheaper for Contour if they were able to keep the same funding but swap a flight a day to DEN. DEN is closer to both cities than PHX and the fuel/crew savings should be great. And ground handling costs shouldn’t be that different given the limited frequency at PHX as it is, assuming SkyWest isn’t helping Contour with some of their costs.
I don’t think skywest can fly 135/380 into passenger terminals even if they are screened – they’d need to operate under 121.
Contour and Southern fly into terminals today as 135 operators. Shouldn’t be an issue
It would be interesting to me if they try to switch most of the Wyoming flying over to SWC still. This is all under a special contract with the state separate from EAS for four of the communities (Sheridan, Riverton, Gillette, and Rock Springs I believe), which requires a 50 seat jet in part. However, of these, some (namely Sheridan) have been doing very well with frequently sold out flights, and local officials starting the push for a bigger 70-76 seat airplane to be sent in instead.
Sure, during the pandemic, numbers were abysmal, but maybe this is a play to add frequency at this point instead of just full swaps? The early morning flights to the hubs and the late flights out are great for connections, but maybe this allows them to optimize the mid-day, less useful flights? Either way, removing the United Express banner from the flights will likely greatly impact the overall success of the service in these communities.
The market for wet ink commercial FOs who want to avoid circling the pattern for two years building up to 1,500 hours is strong. It’s what draws some to Southern Airways Express today. Many of us are old enough to remember when Gulfstream Air was charging their first officers to build experience in the right seat. Independent of the morality of it, or safety considerations, the market to have a qualified 135/380 pilot in the right seat as a part of their training is there. Combined that with the lower labor costs of an age 66+ CA who wants to keep flying (but doesn’t want to fly corporate) and you have the opportunity to for a very low cost CR2 operation. There are plenty of markets willing to pony up $2M+ to support those flights through minimum revenue guarantees.
Skywest would be wise to keep SWC in its back pocket, even if it’s not working as originally planned.
This would be the path to move a pilot from Part 135 to Part 121 status. Yep, you will be doing the milk run. However, just hang in there kid and you’ll move up in status and pay grade if patient. At the same time, word will spread that SWC is the means to build 500 hours into the magic 1500 and candidates will keep knocking on your door. Many of these are knee deep in student debt. SWC is the means of getting your foot in the door, keep the bill collector at bay, and moving up the food chain.
For the time being SkyWest has plans to use 2 Captains, but a lot of this is semantics. There will only be one designated Captain meaning the First Officer (co-pilot) will be getting reduced First Officer pay, very important to SkyWest. In addition, many will have a “Restricted” license, which is a long set of details I will not bore anyone with. And, because there is no regulatory need to fly with a Captain Qualified First Officer, this does not mean they always will. This whole scheme is to get pilots flight time experience so they can, by obligation, fly for the regular SkyWest. The few pilots that are flying past the max 65 age for the regular SkyWest are leaving as the employment conditions are far worse than they were told to expect. Suffice to say, the safety level of this operation is diminished because the cockpit crew is not at the level for normal Part 121 Operations, either too old or too inexperienced.
Welcome to the conversation, ALPA.