Skywest Airlines is feeling the effects of the mining boom, announcing today it expects a 20 per cent revenue increase for the current half year and it will expand its fleet by five aircraft next year.
The regional WA airline said it expects half-year revenue to be up SG$150 million (approximately A$115), while net profit after tax are expected to be in the range of SG$4 – 5 million (approximately A$3.5 million).
In this half-year, Skywest has won contracts for charter flights to BHP Billiton’s Area C and Yandi mines in the Pilbara, and Chevron’s Wheatstone LNG plant at Onslow.
The airline also commenced wet lease operations with Virgin Blue, which has seen Skywest begin operating three new ATR-72 aircraft.
Under the agreement, five additional aircraft will join the Skywest fleet next year.
The company has also leased an additional Fokker 100 aircraft to act as a standby charter plane from January 2012.
In a statement, Skywest said it remained focused on delivering exceptional service to as many fly in fly out resource clients as possible and to further expand and resource this avenue of business as much as possible.
Skywest shares were up 2 cents to 42 cents at 10:30am WST today.
