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Flying Agreements Revenue and Airport Customer Service and Other Revenue
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2019
Flying Agreements Revenue and Airport Customer Service and Other Revenue  
Flying Agreements Revenue and Airport Customer Service and Other Revenue

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, the Company’s performance obligation is met 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 three months ended March 31, 2019, fixed-fee arrangements represented approximately 84.8% 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.  Under the Company’s prorate flying agreements, the performance obligation is met and revenue is recognized 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 three months ended March 31, 2019, prorate flying arrangements represented approximately 15.2% 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. Additionally, airport customer service and other revenues includes revenue generated from aircraft and spare engines leased to third parties. As of March 31, 2019, the Company leased regional jet aircraft and spare engines to third parties. Of the Company’s $5.3 billion of property and equipment, net, $23.2 million was leased to third parties under operating leases as of March 31, 2019. The Company mitigates the residual asset risks of these assets by leasing aircraft and engine types that can be operated by the Company in the event of a default. Additionally, the operating leases typically have specified lease return condition requirements paid by the lessee to the Company and the Company typically maintains inspection rights under the leases. The following table summarizes future minimum rental income under operating leases primarily related to leased aircraft that had remaining non-cancelable lease terms as of March 31, 2019 (in thousands):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

April 2019 through December 2019

    

$

18,495

 

2020

 

 

13,034

 

2021

 

 

7,956

 

2022

 

 

3,125

 

2023

 

 

185

 

Thereafter

 

 

 

 

 

$

42,795

 

 

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-month period ended March 31, 2019 and 2018 (in thousands):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the three months ended March 31,

 

 

    

2019

    

2018

 

Capacity purchase agreements revenue: flight operations

 

$

386,545

 

$

469,025

 

Capacity purchase agreements revenue: aircraft lease revenue

 

 

207,381

 

 

189,068

 

Prorate agreements revenue

 

 

106,075

 

 

109,871

 

   Flying agreements revenue

 

$

700,001

 

$

767,964

 

 

A portion of the Company’s compensation under its fixed-fee agreements is designed to reimburse the Company for certain aircraft ownership costs. The consideration for aircraft ownership costs 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 received for the use of the aircraft under the Company’s fixed-fee agreements is reflected as 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 Accounting Standards Update No. 2014‑09, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers, (Topic 606)” (“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 SkyWest Airlines has with each major airline partner:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Delta Connection Agreements

Agreement

    

Aircraft type

    

Number of
Aircraft

    

Term / Termination
Dates

Delta Connection Agreement

(fixed-fee arrangement)

 

CRJ 200

CRJ 700

CRJ 900

E175

 

58

18

43

50

 

Individual aircraft have scheduled removal dates from 2019 to 2030

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

United Express Agreements

(fixed-fee arrangement)

 

CRJ 200

CRJ 700

E175

 

68

19

65

 

Individual aircraft have scheduled removal dates from 2020 to 2029

United Express Prorate Agreement

(revenue-sharing arrangement)

 

CRJ 200

 

25

 

Terminable with 120-day notice

 

American Agreements

Agreement

    

Aircraft type

    

Number of
Aircraft

    

Term / Termination
Dates

American Agreement

(fixed-fee arrangement)

 

CRJ 700

 

62

 

Individual aircraft have scheduled removal dates from 2022 to 2025

American Prorate Agreement

(revenue-sharing arrangement)

 

CRJ 200

 

7

 

Terminable with 120-day notice

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alaska Capacity Purchase Agreement

Agreement

    

Aircraft type

    

Number of
Aircraft

    

Term / Termination
Dates

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 fixed-fee agreements with Alaska and Delta to place additional Embraer E175 dual-class regional jet aircraft (“E175”) into service.  As of March 31, 2019, the Company was scheduled to take delivery of eight E175 aircraft in connection with its agreement with Delta (four aircraft in 2019 and four aircraft in 2020) and three E175 aircraft in 2021 in connection with its agreement with Alaska. 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 Canadair CRJ900 regional jet aircraft (“CRJ900”) aircraft under a fixed-fee agreement. As of March 31, 2019, SkyWest Airlines had placed eight of these CRJ900 aircraft into service with Delta. The delivery dates for the remaining 12 aircraft are expected to continue through the end of 2020. The remaining 12 new CRJ900 aircraft will replace 12 Canadair CRJ700 regional jet aircraft (“CRJ700”) scheduled to expire under SkyWest’s flying contracts with Delta.

 

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 engines 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.