``SkyWest, Inc., headquartered in SkyWest, Inc., headquartered in St. George, Utah, is the holding company for thirty-three-year-old SkyWest Airlines. SkyWest Airlines was founded in 1972 by Ralph Atkin to meet the needs of businessmen traveling between Salt Lake City and St. George, Utah. During the first year of operations, 256 passengers utilized the services of the fledgling airline.

In 1987 SkyWest Airlines signed a marketing agreement with Western Airlines to fly for them as Western Express out of their hub in Salt Lake City. Later that year, Delta Air Lines acquired Western. SkyWest then began a partnership with Delta as one of their Connection carriers and today continues that partnership with approximately 480 daily flights, operating primarily out of Delta’s hub in Salt Lake City.

On October 1, 1997, SkyWest began its partnership with United Airlines. SkyWest is now the primary United Express carrier along the West Coast, providing more than 1,017 daily departures and serving United hubs at Los Angeles, Seattle/Tacoma, Portland, San Francisco, Chicago O`Hare and Denver.

In addition to its current partners, SkyWest previously had code-share agreements with Continental Airlines from 1995 to 1997 out of Los Angeles International Airport and from 2003 to 2005 out of Houston Intercontinental Airport.

In total, SkyWest today provides approximately 1,500 daily flights system wide to 106 cities in 30 states and 3 Canadian provinces. With a fleet of 62 Embraer-120 turboprops and 157 Canadair Regional Jets, SkyWest is the nation`s largest independently owned regional airline and is still growing.``