SkyWest's (SKYW) Capacity, Block Hours Decline in May

SkyWest Inc. SKYW revealed a 5.6% (9,197) year-over-year decline in block hours (a measure of aircraft utilization) to 155,758 in May 2017.

The St. George, UT-based carrier, which remains focused on streamlining its operations, mentioned that the fall in the metric was in sync with its fleet transition plans. The carrier aims to reduce the 50-seat jets in its fleet and add new E175 aircraft. SkyWest‘s dual class aircraft accounted for approximately 50% of the carrier's total block hour production for the month. The comparable figure was approximately 43% a year ago. The carrier reported a 6.4% decrease in block hours for the first five months of the year.

Apart from the block hour reduction in keeping with its fleet optimization plans, SkyWest recorded a 5% decline in consolidated capacity (measured in available seat miles) for the month of May to 2.78 billion. Airline traffic, measured in revenue passenger miles, decreased 7.4% year over year to 2.26 billion on a consolidated basis.

Load factor (percentage of seats filled with passengers) decreased 220 basis points (bps) at 81.4% in the month, on a consolidated basis as traffic contraction was more than that of capacity. The number of departures in May was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

SkyWest currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Investors interested in the airline space may also consider Air France-KLM SA AFLYY, Deutsche Lufthansa AG DLAKY and Hawaiian Holdings, Inc. HA sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Shares of Air France-KLM, Deutsche Lufthansa and Hawaiian Holdings gained over 58%, 37% and 16% over a period of three months.

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