SkyWest Airlines (OO, Salt Lake City) has announced that it entered into an agreement with Delta Air Lines (DL, Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson) wherein it will acquire sixteen new E175s from Embraer and operate them on behalf of the mainline carrier.
The first regional jet will deliver in the first half of 2022 with all sixteen scheduled to enter service for Delta Connection by the end of 2022.
"We are pleased to continue to strengthen our Delta agreement with these new, dual-class aircraft. The E175 continues to serve our partners and passengers well as we help our partners work toward full domestic recovery," said Chip Childs, President and CEO of SkyWest.
The regional capacity provider said the sixteen E175s would replace the same number of CRJ900s that it currently operates on behalf of Delta. These jets are owned by SkyWest and will be retired between the second half of 2022 and early 2023, in tandem with the induction of the E175s. According to the ch-aviation fleets ownership module, SkyWest operates a total of forty-four CRJ900LRs, of which it owns 20: 16 operated on behalf of Delta and a further four operated for American Airlines. Among the remaining 24 units, all of which are operated for Delta, half is owned by Delta itself and the other half is dry-leased from Falko Regional Aircraft and Castlelake.
SkyWest Airlines is already the world's largest operator of the E175s with forty-four ERJ 170-200LLs and 149 ERJ 170-200LR in its fleet. It operates the type on behalf of Delta, United Airlines, and Alaska Airlines. It currently has a further twenty-nine E175s on firm order from the Brazilian manufacturer with 20 units in this batch already allocated to its American Eagle partnership.
