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Virgin Australia Regional Airlines (formerly Skywest) is an Australian regional airline company based in Perth; servicing key towns in the state of Western Australia as well as interstate destinations Darwin, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra and Sydney. It also serves regional destinations in New South Wales and Queensland and operates charter flights to Bali. In April 2013 Skywest was purchased by Virgin Australia Holdings as its new regional offshoot, and renamed Virgin Australia Regional Airlines. ==History== Virgin Australia Regional was formed in 1963 as Carnarvon Air Taxis flying charter flights with small general aviation aircraft out of Carnarvon, Western Australia. In 1979 it changed its name to Skywest Aviation and moved to Perth's Jandakot Airport. In 1980 Skywest Airlines was formed, based at Perth Airport, and acquired Stillwell Airlines and its routes; the combined fleet included 39 aircraft, making it the second largest commuter airline in Australia at the time. The Skywest Airlines/Aviation fleet included a mix of general aviation types and small airliners including GAF N-24 Nomads, Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirantes, Beechcraft King Air 200s & Fairchild SA-227 Metro IIIs, as well as smaller types such as Cessna 182s and Piper Aztecs. In 1982, the controlling companies merged Skywest Airlines with TransWest Airlines. At the time Skywest operated 16 aircraft and TransWest 25. Then in 1983 it was proposed to merge Skywest with East-West Airlines, both were owned by the Devereaux group. The merger did not eventuate, but East-West operated flights in Western Australia on Skywest's behalf. In 1987 Skywest lost the Government Coastwatch contract, which severely weakened the business. The company was bought out by the Perron group and then on-sold shortly thereafter to TNT/News Limited and began operating under the Ansett banner. The East-West aircraft were divested for operations in Queensland and were later absorbed into Ansett. At this time, Skywest was operating most of its services with five BAe Jetstream 31s. In 1998, Ansett introduced Fokker 50s into Skywest service. The airline continued to be owned by Ansett Australia, and operated flights on behalf of Ansett until the parent's demise in 2002. Skywest was then successfully purchased by private investors. In 2004 it was the subject of a hostile, but ultimately successful, takeover attempt by Singapore-based investment company CaptiveVision Capital. This takeover succeeded in gaining a majority stake. On 8 February 2007, news broke that the airline may be the target of a tie-up with Singapore-based Tiger Airways,〔(Jetstar grows to tackle a Tiger ) ''The Australian'' 8 February 2007〕 although no business arrangements were ever concluded. Skywest Airlines has been since 2004 100% owned by CaptiveVision Capital which in turn is a subsidiary of ASX and London Stock Exchange AIM market-quoted Skywest Airlines.〔(Tiger to take on Jetstar ) ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' 8 February 2007〕 Since 2004 under Skywest Airlines ownership, the fleet has expanded from seven aircraft to 18 aircraft. Skywest's first Airbus A320 was registered in April 2010. It was delivered Perth on 23 October 2010 and operated charter services between Perth and Cloudbreak for Fortescue Metals Group. Skywest announced that it had optioned a second A320 on 12 May 2011. On 10 January 2011, it was announced that Virgin Australia had established a 10-year alliance under which Skywest would operate up to 18 turboprops in the bigger carrier's colours. The alliance with the Perth-based airline was part of new push by Virgin Australia into regional Australia. The agreement saw the airlines codeshare on some of each other's flights. Virgin Australia and Skywest customers also could earn and redeem frequent flyer points on each other's networks. Skywest leases the new aircraft from Avation plc () with the first four arriving in 2011 and the full fleet due by the middle of 2013. In April 2012, Virgin Australia Holdings purchased 10% of Skywest Airlines.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Virgin Australia Invests in Skywest Airlines to Drive Growth in Regional Operations )〕〔(Virgin Australia to invest in Skywest ) London Stock Exchange 10 April 2012〕 On 30 October 2012, Virgin Australia announced a takeover bid for Skywest Airlines. It had received in principle support from the Board but the takeover would require shareholder and regulatory approval.〔(Offer for company ) Skywest Airlines 30 October 2012〕 On 11 April 2013, Virgin Australia Holdings completed its 100% acquisition of Skywest Airlines.〔(Virgin Australia Completes the Acquisition of Skywest ) Virgin Australia 11 April 2013〕 From 7 May 2013, the use of the Skywest brand was discontinued and the airline became part of the Virgin Australia brand, however it will continue to operate under its current Air Operator's Certificate and its own management team. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Virgin Australia Regional Airlines」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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