US lawmakers warn that “more military spending is absolutely necessary” to ensure Pentagon’s readiness
The US Congress has raised concerns about how inflation rates and cuts in main acquisition programmes could affect the US military.
SkyWest reports $84m net income for 2009
SkyWest, Inc. has reported its preliminary financial figures for the year ending 31 December 2009.
Operating revenues for the year were $2.61 billion, compared to $3.50 billion for the year ended 31 December 2008. SkyWest reported net income of $83.7 million or $1.47 per diluted share, for the year ended 31 December 2009, compared with $112.9 million of net income, or $1.93 per diluted share for the previous year.
At 31 December 2009, SkyWest had approximately $732.4 million in cash and marketable securities, compared to $705.2 million as of 31 December 2008. SkyWest's long-term debt was $1.82 billion as of 31 December 2009, compared to $1.68 billion at 31 December 2008. The increase in SkyWest's long-term debt was primarily the result of acquiring 14 new Bombardier CRJ700s and one CRJ900 that were financed with long-term debt, partially offset by SkyWest's payment of normal recurring debt obligations. SkyWest has significant long-term lease obligations that are recorded as operating leases and are not reflected as liabilities on SkyWest's consolidated balance sheets. At a 5.8% discount rate, the present value of these lease obligations was approximately $2.1 billion as of 31 December 2009.
At the end of 2009, SkyWest's fleet totalled 449 aircraft, consisting of 398 regional jets (246 assigned to Delta Air Lines, 147 assigned to United, two assigned to AirTran and three assigned to SkyWest), 51 Embraer EMB-120 Brasilias (40 assigned to United and 11 assigned to Delta).
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