Skywest Inc (SKYW) Q4 2018 Earnings Conference Call Transcript

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Logo of jester cap with thought bubble.

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Skywest Inc (NASDAQ: SKYW)
Q4 2018 Earnings Conference Call
Jan. 31, 2019, 4:30 p.m. ET

Contents:

  • Prepared Remarks

  • Questions and Answers

  • Call Participants

Prepared Remarks:

Operator

Good afternoon and welcome to the SkyWest Incorporated Fourth Quarter 2018 Earnings Conference Call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. (Operator Instructions). I would now like to turn the conference over to Rob Simmons, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.

Robert J. Simmons -- Chief Financial Officer

Thanks everyone for joining us on the call today. As the operator indicated, this is Rob Simmons, SkyWest's Chief Financial Officer. On the call with me today are Chip Childs, President and Chief Executive Officer; Wade Steel, Chief Commercial Officer; Eric Woodward, Chief Accounting Officer; and Mike Thomson, SkyWest Airlines Chief Operating Officer. I'd like to start today by asking Eric to read the Safe Harbor. Then I will turn the time over to Chip for some comments. Following chip, I will take us through the financial results, then Wade will discuss the fleet and related flying arrangements.

Following Wade, we will have the customary Q&A session with our sell-side analysts. Eric?

Eric J. Woodward -- Chief Accounting Officer

Today's discussion contains forward-looking statements that represent our current beliefs, expectations and assumptions regarding future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties. We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statement. Actual results will likely vary and may vary materially from those anticipated, estimated or projected for a number of reasons. Some of the factors that may cause such differences are included in our 2017 form 10-K and other reports and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

With that, I'll turn the call over to Chip.

Chip Childs -- Chief Executive Officer, President and Director

Thank you, Rob and Eric. Good afternoon, everyone. We appreciate your joining us on the call today. The fourth quarter completed a strong 2018. We're pleased to report solid continued progress on our key objectives to reduce risk. enhanced fleet flexibility and maintain strong cash flow. We are focused on delivering on our commitments and executing with discipline. As our press release outlines, we continue to make great progress in all of these areas. With the completion of the ExpressJet sale to ManaAir this month, we successfully mitigated a significant risk to our model. We believe our ability to focus on one operating entity in Sky West airlines will help us better achieve our objectives and deliver an exceptional product for our partners. As we've discussed in previous quarters, another component of our risk reduction strategy is to further reduce our utilization of expensive and inflexible leverage leases across our fleet. As we outlined in our press release, we are executing early lease buyouts on 52 aircraft this month as we continued to delever our balance sheet and reduce tariffs.