SkyWest Q3 Earnings & Revenues Beat Estimates, Improve Year Over Year

SkyWest, Inc. (SKYW) reported better-than-expected third-quarter 2025 results, wherein both earnings and revenues surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate and improved on a year-over-year basis.

Quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $2.81 outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.56 and improved 30% year over year. Revenues of $1.05 billion beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.01 billion and improved 15% year over year.

Revenues from flying agreements (contributing 96.3% to the top line) grew 14.5% from the prior-year reported figure of $1.01 billion. The airline carried 10.5% more passengers in the reported quarter on a year-over-year basis. Departures increased 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. The passenger load factor (percentage of seats filled by passengers) improved 0.3 points to 84%.

SkyWest, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

SkyWest, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | SkyWest, Inc. Quote

Chip Childs, president and chief executive officer of SkyWest, stated, “We continue to execute a balanced approach in deploying our capital and monetizing our CRJ fleet flexibility, which we believe will generate long-term value for our customers, our people and SkyWest. We remain optimistic regarding the strong demand for our product and regional flying opportunities in smaller communities. I want to thank our people for their great work during the seasonally strong summer months.”

Concurrent with its third-quarter 2025 results, SkyWest also announced that it has inked a multi-year contract extension with United Airlines UAL for up to 40 CRJ200 aircraft.

SKYW had no E175 aircraft deliveries during the third quarter of 2025, consistent with prior expectations.

By 2028-end, SkyWest anticipates having nearly 300 E175 aircraft in its fleet. As previously announced, SKYW entered into a purchase agreement with Embraer, which secures delivery positions for 44 additional E175s from 2028 through 2032 for potential future flying opportunities. SKYW also secured purchase rights on 50 additional E175s from Embraer.

Operating expenses were $876 million, up 12% year over year, owing to the increase in block hour production year over year, partially offset by operating efficiencies from higher utilization of the company’s fleet.

At the third-quarter end, the company had cash and marketable securities of $753.35 million compared with $727.02 million at the prior-quarter end. Long-term debt (net of current maturities) was $1.86 billion compared with $2.01 billion reported at the end of the prior quarter.

SkyWest repurchased 244,000 shares for $26.6 million during the third quarter of 2025. As of Sept. 30, 2025, SKYW had $240 million available under its current share repurchase program.

Capital expenditures during the reported quarter were $122 million, which included the purchase of spare CRJ airframes and parts, spare engines and other fixed assets.

SKYW’s Zacks Rank

Currently, SkyWest sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).  You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here

Q3 Performances of Other Transportation Companies

Delta Air Lines DAL reported third-quarter 2025 earnings (excluding 46 cents from non-recurring items) of $1.71 per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.52. Earnings increased 14% on a year-over-year basis due to low fuel costs.

Revenues in the September-end quarter were $16.67 billion, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $15.79 billion and increasing 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. Due to improving air-travel demand, adjusted operating revenues (excluding third-party refinery sales) increased 4.1% year over year to $15.2 billion. 

J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (JBHT) reported third-quarter 2025 earnings of $1.76 per share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.47 and improved 18.1% year over year.

Total operating revenues of $3.05 billion surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.02 billion and were down 0.5% year over year. JBHT’s third-quarter revenue performance was hurt by a 1% and 4% decline in gross revenue per load in Intermodal (JBI) and Truckload (JBT), respectively, a decrease in load volume of 8% and 1% in Integrated Capacity Solutions (ICS) and Dedicated Contract Services (DCS), and 8% fewer stops in Final Mile Services (FMS). These items were partially offset by a 3 % improvement in DCS productivity, a 9% increase in revenue per load in ICS and 14% load growth in JBT. Total operating revenue, excluding fuel surcharge revenue, fell less than 1% year over year.

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

Zacks Investment Research