Note 2 — Flying Agreements Revenue and Airport Customer Service and Other Revenues

The Company recognizes flying agreements revenue and airport customer service and other revenues when the service is provided under its code-share agreements. Under the Company’s fixed-fee arrangements (referred to as “fixed-fee arrangements,” “fixed-fee contracts” or “capacity purchase agreements”) with Delta Air Lines, Inc. (“Delta”), United Airlines, Inc. (“United”), American Airlines, Inc. (“American”) and Alaska Airlines, Inc. (“Alaska”) (each, a “major airline partner”), the major airline partner generally pays the Company a fixed-fee for each departure, flight hour (measured from takeoff to landing, excluding taxi time) or block hour (measured from takeoff to landing, including taxi time) incurred, and an amount per aircraft in service each month with additional incentives based on flight completion and on-time performance. The major airline partner also directly reimburses the Company for certain direct expenses incurred under the fixed-fee arrangement, such as airport landing fees and airport rents. Under the fixed-fee arrangements, revenue is earned when each flight is completed and is reflected in flying agreements revenue. The transaction price for the fixed-fee agreements is determined from the fixed-fee consideration, incentive consideration and directly reimbursed expenses earned as flights are completed over the agreement term. For the nine months ended September 30, 2018, fixed-fee arrangements represented approximately 84.3% of the Company’s flying agreements revenue.

Under the Company’s revenue-sharing arrangements (referred to as a “revenue-sharing” or “prorate” arrangement), the major airline partner and the Company negotiate a passenger fare proration formula, pursuant to which the Company receives a percentage of the ticket revenues for those passengers traveling for one portion of their trip on a Company airline and the other portion of their trip on the major airline partner. Revenue is recognized under the Company’s prorate flying agreements when each flight is completed based upon the portion of the prorate passenger fare the Company anticipates that it will receive for each completed flight. The transaction price for the prorate agreements is determined from the proration formula derived from each passenger ticket amount on each completed flight over the agreement term. For the nine months ended September 30, 2018, prorate flying arrangements represented approximately 15.7% of the Company’s flying agreements revenue.

Airport customer service and other revenues primarily consist of ground handling functions, such as gate and ramp agent services at applicable airports where the Company provides such services. The transaction price for airport customer service agreements is determined from an agreed-upon rate by location applied to the applicable number of flights handled by the Company over the agreement term.

Other ancillary revenues commonly associated with airlines, such as baggage fee revenue, ticket change fee revenue and the marketing component of the sale of mileage credits, are retained by the Company’s major airline partners on flights that the Company operates under its code‑share agreements.

The following table represents the Company’s flying agreements revenue by type for the three and nine-month periods ended September 30, 2018 and 2017 (in thousands):


	For the three months ended September 30,				For the nine months ended September 30,
	2018		2017		2018		2017
Capacity purchase agreements revenue: flight operations	$	472,952	$	462,832	$	1,404,801	$	1,367,901
Capacity purchase agreements revenue: aircraft lease revenue		208,813		213,967		599,188		621,099
Prorate agreements revenue		134,292		124,166		373,670		328,218
Flying agreements revenue	$	816,057	$	800,965	$	2,377,659	$	2,317,218

A portion of the Company’s compensation under its fixed-fee agreements is designed to reimburse the Company for certain aircraft ownership costs. The aircraft compensation structure varies by agreement, but is intended to cover either the Company’s aircraft principal and interest debt service costs, its aircraft depreciation and interest expense or its aircraft lease expense costs while the aircraft is under contract. The consideration associated with the use of the aircraft under the Company’s fixed-fee agreements is deemed to be lease revenue, inasmuch as the agreements identify the “right of use” of a specific type and number of aircraft over a stated period of time. The lease revenue associated with the Company’s fixed-fee agreements is accounted for as an operating lease and is reflected as flying agreements revenue on the Company’s consolidated statements of comprehensive income. The Company has not separately stated aircraft rental income and aircraft rental expense in the consolidated statement of comprehensive income since the use of the aircraft is not a separate activity of the total service provided.

The Company’s fixed-fee and prorate agreements include weekly provisional cash payments from the respective major airline partner based on a projected level of flying each month. The Company and each major airline partner subsequently reconcile these payments to the actual completed flight activity on a monthly or quarterly basis. In the event a flying agreement includes a mid-term rate reset to adjust rates prospectively and the contractual rates under the Company’s flying agreements have not been finalized at quarterly or annual financial statement dates, the Company applies the variable constraint guidance under Topic 606, where the Company records revenue to the extent it believes that it is probable that a significant reversal in the amount of cumulative revenue recognized will not occur when the uncertainty associated with the variable consideration is subsequently resolved.

In several of the Company’s agreements, the Company is eligible to receive incentive compensation upon the achievement of certain performance criteria. The incentives are defined in the agreements and are measured and determined on a monthly, quarterly or semi‑annual basis. At the end of each period during the term of an agreement, the Company calculates the incentives achieved during that period and recognizes revenue attributable to that agreement accordingly, subject to the variable constraint guidance under Topic 606.

The following table summarizes the significant provisions of each code-share agreement the Company has with each major airline partner:


Delta Connection Agreements
Agreement	Aircraft type	Number of Aircraft	Term / Termination Dates
SkyWest Airlines Delta Connection Agreement (fixed-fee arrangement)	•CRJ 200 •CRJ 700 •CRJ 900 •E175	65 25 37 41	•Individual aircraft have scheduled removal dates from 2018 to 2027
ExpressJet Delta Connection Agreement (fixed-fee arrangement)	•CRJ 700	12	•Individual aircraft have scheduled removal dates throughout 2018
SkyWest Airlines Delta Connection Prorate Agreement (revenue-sharing arrangement)	•CRJ 200	29	•Terminable with 30-day notice

United Express Agreements
Agreement	Aircraft type	Number of Aircraft	Term / Termination Dates
SkyWest Airlines United Express Agreements (fixed-fee arrangement)	•CRJ 200 •CRJ 700 •E175	61 19 65	•Individual aircraft have scheduled removal dates from 2018 to 2029
ExpressJet United ERJ Agreement (fixed-fee arrangement)	•ERJ 145	100	•Individual aircraft have scheduled removal dates from 2018 to 2022
SkyWest Airlines United Express Prorate Agreement (revenue-sharing arrangement)	•CRJ 200	23	•Terminable with 120-day notice

American Agreements
Agreement	Aircraft type	Number of Aircraft	Term / Termination Dates
SkyWest Airlines American Agreement (fixed-fee arrangement)	•CRJ 700	42	•Individual aircraft have scheduled removal dates from 2019 to 2023
SkyWest Airlines American Prorate Agreement (revenue-sharing arrangement)	•CRJ 200	7	•Terminable with 120-day notice
ExpressJet American Agreement (fixed-fee arrangement)	•CRJ 700	16	•Individual aircraft have scheduled removal dates from 2018 to 2019


Alaska Capacity Purchase Agreement
Agreement	Aircraft type	Number of Aircraft	Term / Termination Dates
SkyWest Airlines Alaska Agreement (fixed-fee arrangement)	•E175	32	•Individual aircraft have scheduled removal dates from 2027 to 2030

In addition to the contractual arrangements described above, SkyWest Airlines has entered into agreements with Alaska and Delta to place additional Embraer E175 dual-class regional jet aircraft (which are typically configured with 76 or 70 seats) (“E175”) into service for those major airline partners. As of September 30, 2018, the Company anticipated placing an additional three E175 aircraft with Alaska and eight E175 aircraft with Delta. The delivery dates for the new E175 aircraft are expected to take place by the end of 2018 or early 2019 with the exception of three E175 aircraft with Alaska that have been deferred until 2021. Final delivery dates may be adjusted based on various factors.

SkyWest Airlines also entered into an agreement with Delta in the second quarter of 2018 to operate 20 new Canadair CRJ900 regional jet aircraft. The aircraft will be acquired by Delta with delivery dates beginning in 2018 that are expected to continue through the end of 2020. These aircraft will replace 20 Canadair CRJ700 regional jet aircraft (“CRJ700”) scheduled to expire under SkyWest’s flying contracts with Delta.

SkyWest Airlines also reached an agreement with American in the second quarter of 2018 to place 20 used CRJ700 aircraft into service under a four-year contract. The 20 CRJ700 aircraft are being sourced from within the Company’s fleet. SkyWest Airlines began transitioning the CRJ700 aircraft into service during the second and third quarters of 2018 and all 20 aircraft are expected to be in service by early 2019.

Additionally, in the second quarter of 2018, SkyWest Airlines and United agreed to extend the flying contract for 19 CRJ700 aircraft. These aircraft previously had expirations scheduled for mid-2019, which were extended to mid-2022.

During the third quarter of 2018, ExpressJet began transitioning 20 Canadair CRJ200 regional jet aircraft (“CRJ200s”) into service under a previously announced three-year agreement with United. The aircraft are being sourced from within the Company’s existing fleet through other contract expirations. The first aircraft was placed into service in October 2018 and all 20 CRJ200 aircraft are scheduled to be placed into service with United by early 2019.

When an aircraft is scheduled to be removed from a fixed-fee arrangement, the Company may, as practical under the circumstances, negotiate an extension with the respective major airline partner, negotiate the placement of the aircraft with another major airline partner, return the aircraft to the lessor if the aircraft is leased and the lease is expiring, place owned aircraft for sale, or pursue other uses for the aircraft. Other uses for the aircraft may include placing the aircraft in a prorate arrangement, leasing the aircraft to a third party or parting out the aircraft to use the engines and parts as spare inventory or to lease the engine to a third party.

The Company’s operating revenues could be impacted by a number of factors, including changes to the Company’s code-share agreements with its major airline partners, contract modifications resulting from contract renegotiations, the Company’s ability to earn incentive payments contemplated under the Company’s code-share agreements and settlement of reimbursement disputes with the Company’s major airline partners.