Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2021

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic

(2) Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic

COVID-19, which was declared a global health pandemic by the World Health Organization in March 2020, had a significant, negative impact on the Company’s business and financial results in 2020 with moderate improvement in 2021. The ongoing spread of the virus and its variants continues to negatively impact our business, and the domestic and international networks of our major airline partners for whom we conduct flight operations and rely on to set our flight schedules. Various factors outside our control may impact the demand for air travel and our flight schedules, such as the distribution and efficacy of vaccines, government-imposed vaccine mandates, new variants of the virus, and continued or new government travel restrictions. Additionally, indirect factors may impede the timing of our recovery from the virus even if passenger demand returns to pre-COVID-19 levels, such as employee attrition and workforce shortages and third-party labor shortages that may result in delays in outsourced maintenance work and availability of aircraft parts.

Liquidity. At December 31, 2021, the Company had $904.0 million in total available liquidity, consisting of $860.4 million in cash and marketable securities, and $43.6 million available under SkyWest Airlines’ line of credit with a bank. Additionally, we have approximately $1.5 billion in unpledged aircraft engines and aircraft parts that we temporarily used as collateral in 2020 and 2021. At December 31, 2021, the Company’s current portion of long-term debt was $391.8 million, compared to $402.2 million at December 31, 2020.

Payroll Support Programs. In 2020 and 2021, the Company entered into three Payroll Support Program Agreements with Treasury that provided certain payroll support relief payments, including the Payroll Support Program (“PSP1”) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”), the Payroll Support Program Extension Agreement (“PSP2”) under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (“2021 Appropriations Act”)

and Payroll Support Program 3 Agreement (“PSP3”) under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (“American Rescue Plan Act”). The relief payments were conditioned on the Company’s agreement to, among other things, refrain from conducting involuntary employee layoffs or furloughs through September 30, 2021. Other conditions include restrictions on share repurchases and dividends through September 30, 2022, continuing essential air service as directed by the U.S. Department of Transportation and certain limitations on executive compensation. The payments received under the payroll support programs included an amount in the form of a payroll grant and an amount in the form of an unsecured 10-year loan. In return, the Company issued to Treasury warrants to purchase shares of the Company’s common stock. The Company recorded the payroll grant proceeds as an offset to operating expenses in the period the funds were intended to compensate. The PSP1 grant was recognized during 2020 and grants received from PSP2 and PSP3 were recognized during 2021.

In 2020, in connection with the CARES Act, the Company entered into the Treasury Loan Agreement with Treasury (“Secured Loan”) and borrowed $60 million under the agreement and in conjunction therewith, issued warrants to purchase shares of the Company’s common stock. During 2021, the Company repaid all amounts outstanding under the secured loan with Treasury, and in connection with such repayment, terminated the Secured Loan.

The following table summarizes the amounts received and warrants issued under the payroll support programs and secured loan facility (in thousands except warrant amounts):

	Total		Grant		Loan		Number of Warrants
PSP1	$	450,701	$	345,491	$	105,210	370,720
Secured Loan		60,000		—		60,000	211,416
PSP2		268,070		217,649		50,421	124,773
PSP3		250,029		205,020		45,009	78,317
Total	$	1,028,800	$	768,160	$	260,640	785,226

See Note 4, "Long-Term Debt," for further discussion on the loans with Treasury and Note 10 “Capital Transactions” for further discussion on the warrants issued to acquire the Company’s shares issued to Treasury.