SkyWest Airlines, recently acquired a 25% stake in Contour Airlines, a charter flight operator based in Tennessee. As part of the agreement, SkyWest will also provide Contour with aircraft structures, engines, and parts from the Bombardier CRJ series.
As reported by our affiliated publication Aeroin, financial details of the agreement were not disclosed. Wade Steel, Commercial Director, revealed that SkyWest owns around 150 CRJ aircraft, with up to 60 of them currently without contracts. «The vast majority of our CRJ700 and CRJ-900 are under contract, and there is very high demand for them,» Steel stated.
The company is also considering Contour as a potential source of pilots, addressing a significant shortage of commanders. CEO Chip Childs indicated that the company is exploring «creative ways» to produce commanders more efficiently.
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The Part 135 regulatory guidelines of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) apply to unscheduled commercial passenger services, such as air taxis and charter flights. Operating under 135 rules allows airlines to navigate a less rigorous regulatory environment than their regular commercial aviation counterparts (Part 121). For example, these operators can employ pilots with less than the usual 1,500 hours of total flight time in the U.S. and pilots over 65 years old, the mandatory retirement age. Critics of the model, including major pilot unions, argue that airlines are exploiting a loophole that allows them to bypass safety rules.
Contour initiated its first scheduled passenger route from Tupelo, Mississippi, to Nashville, Tennessee. Currently, the airline operates in 26 cities in the U.S., serving 330,000 passengers annually, establishing itself as one of the largest Part 135 operators in the southeast. The airline operates a fleet of over 30 Embraer jets and several executive jets on private charter flights.
