SkyWest, Inc.SKYW is gearing up to strengthen its foothold in the aviation industry. To this end, SkyWest has signed a deal with Maeve Aerospace as an equity investor. Such an investment deal reflects SKYW’s focus on the expansion of economic regional aviation solutions.
Founded in 2021, Maeve Aerospace group is an European innovator in sustainable and economic aircraft design. The company operates from offices in the Netherlands and Germany.
Chip Childs, president and chief executive officer of SkyWest, stated, “SkyWest is committed to leading our industry forward, and we’re pleased to invest in Maeve as the leading edge of technological, sustainable advancements for regional aviation.”
How Will SkyWest Benefit?
Per the deal, SkyWest will lend its operations, performance, and design expertise to Maeve Aerospace through the development phase. As an investor, SKYW is aiding the development of MAEVE Jet, which reflects a major initiative in the transformative potential of hybrid electric regional aircraft.
The agreement provides SkyWest with exclusive Maeve launch customer rights and boosts SKYW’s long-term strategy pertaining to fleet upgrade. To this end, we would like to remind investors that SkyWest has already been involved in fleet-modernization efforts to cater to the improvement in travel demand. In a bid to modernize its fleet, SKYW has fleet-related agreements with major airlines, including United Airlines UAL, Delta Air Lines DAL and Alaska Airlines ALK.
Per a previously announced agreement with UAL, SkyWest took delivery of two new E175 aircraft during the second quarter of 2025. Further, UAL is scheduled to deliver five E175 planes in the remaining quarters of 2025 and eight in 2026. Alaska Airlines is scheduled to deliver one E175 in 2025.
With Delta Air Lines, SKYW has an inked multi-year flying contract to purchase and operate 16 new E175 aircraft. These 16 new E175 aircraft are anticipated to replace 11 CRJ900s and five CRJ700s, which are currently being flown by SKYW under contract with DAL. Additionally, DAL is scheduled to deliver 10 E175 planes in 2027 and six in 2028.
Apart from deals with UAL, DAL and ALK, SkyWest is scheduled to purchase 16 E175s from Embraer, with delivery dates in 2027 and 2028. By 2028-end, SkyWest is scheduled to have nearly 300 E175 aircraft.
We believe this latest investment deal with Maeve Aerospace aligns with SKYW’s fleet expansion strategies by helping SkyWest position itself for long-term fleet renewal, potentially with more sustainable and efficient aircraft.
Currently, SKYW sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
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Delta Air Lines, Inc. (DAL): Free Stock Analysis Report United Airlines Holdings Inc (UAL): Free Stock Analysis Report Alaska Air Group, Inc. (ALK): Free Stock Analysis Report SkyWest, Inc. (SKYW): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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