ManaAir, a new regional airline operation partially owned by United Airlines, has agreed to purchase ExpressJet, setting the mainline carrier up with a purpose-built exclusive partner that it can use to support its hub-feeding growth strategy.
Under the terms of the deal announced Dec. 18, Utah-based SkyWest Inc. is selling ExpressJet subsidiary to ManaAir for $70 million.
The deal includes the “majority” of ExpressJet’s assets, including “essentially” its entire 103-aircraft Embraer ERJ-135/145 fleet, and “certain” liabilities “subject to a working capital adjustment,” SkyWest Inc. said.
ExpressJet’s fleet includes 129 aircraft, Aviation Week’s Fleet Discovery database shows. SkyWest Inc. will keep 26 Bombardier CRJs that are allocated to ExpressJet.
ManaAir’s majority partner is KAir Enterprises, described as an “airline investment company” by a person familiar with the deal, adding that the venture was formed specifically to buy ExpressJet. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2019, pending KAir gaining necessary regulatory approvals to operate an airline. The size of United’s stake in the new venture was not disclosed.
In addition to transferring existing flying, the agreement expands ExpressJet’s footprint in United’s network. ExpressJet will operate 25 70-seat Embraer E175s that United has on order. It also will operate 20 Bombardier CRJ200s leased from SkyWest Inc. “for up to five years.”
The deal also includes concessions for SkyWest Inc.’s other regional airline subsidiary, SkyWest Airlines. That carrier will receive “certain protections” around current United contract flying, and has “priority position” to add E175s for United “should those opportunities arise,” SkyWest Inc. said.
The sale, which includes an exclusivity clause that will see ExpressJet serve only United, gives the Chicago-based global carrier a useful tool in its effort to grow capacity 6%-8% annually, with a heavy emphasis on regional-jet flying at its hubs…
