SkyWest's (SKYW) August Block Hours & Load Factor Increase

SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) reported a 5.3% year-over-year increase in block hours (a measure of aircraft utilization) to 130,381 for August 2019. The carrier stated that the rise in block hours resulted from the addition of E175, CRJ900 and CRJ700 aircraft to its fleet since last August.

This regional airline is focused on streamlining its operations. It aims to reduce the 50-seat jets from its fleet and add E175 aircraft.

The company’s dual class aircraft (E175, CRJ900 and CRJ700) accounted for approximately 64.5% of the carrier’s total block-hour production for the month compared with approximately 61.1% a year ago.

Additionally, this St. George, UT-based company reported 6.6% ascent in block hours for the first eight months of 2019. Load factor (percentage of seats filled with passengers) improved 80 basis points (bps) to 84% in August. Also, the number of departures and passenger count climbed 6.1% and 7.1% each in the month.

Notably, SkyWest completed the sale of ExpressJet Airlines to a third party on Jan 22 this year. Hence, the traffic report did not include ExpressJet for the year-ago period as well.

Zacks Rank & Other Key Picks

SkyWest carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Some other top-ranked stocks in the same space are Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion, S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE:VLRS) , Copa Holdings, S.A. (NYSE:CPA) and Allegiant Travel Company (NASDAQ:ALGT) . While Controladora Vuela and Copa sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Allegiant carries the same Zacks Rank as SkyWest. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Shares of Controladora Vuela, Copa and Allegiant have rallied more than 93%, 26% and 46% so far this year, respectively.

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