Skywest Showing Staying Power. Loss much better than expected..

SkyWest Airlines, the US's biggest regional airline, finds itself in a stronger financial state than its mainline partners and is extending a variety of concessions to them, including waiving contract minimums, temporary rate reductions and deferring certain payments when possible.
While the COVID-19 pandemic has hit some smaller regional players in the US quite hard, Utah-based SkyWest's size, suite of contracts with major airlines and operational reliability has held it in good stead during the crisis.
“We need to stand ready to do whatever we need to provide [relief] for our partners given the dynamic environment that we're in, and we're going to continue to exercise that philosophy over the fall and into the winter months,” SkyWest president and CEO Chip Childs said.
The airline is accelerating its transition away from 50-seat Bombardier CRJ-200s, as it looks to replace them with 76-seat Embraer E175s, which are currently in higher demand by major airlines.
SkyWest now plans to have 213 E175s by 2022, up from 156 expected at year end, CCO Wade Steel said on the company’s 2020 second quarter earnings call. Meanwhile, the airline’s CRJ-200 fleet will be reduced by 70 aircraft before 2021, down from 200 currently, with further retirements expected in the coming years.
The airline had 471 aircraft in its mixed fleet of Bombardier and Embraer regional jets as of June 30, and plans to have 450 aircraft at year end, with the addition of several dozen E175s offset by the removal of 70 CRJ-200s, including 55 CRJs that are scheduled to expire under its contract with Delta Air Lines.