A Sight No More: Alaska-SkyWest CRJ-700s

On February 25, 2011, SkyWest Airlines entered into an agreement with Alaska Airlines. The agreement called for SkyWest to operate several west coast routes in the Alaska Airlines route network with eight Bombardier CRJ-700s under the Alaska Airlines banner. Under said agreement, SkyWest would maintain its aircraft, while Alaska Airlines took responsibility for scheduling, pricing and marketing the flights, under a form of codesharing known as a capacity purchase agreement. SkyWest began flying revenue service doing business as Alaska Airlines in May 2011 with flights based out or Portland and Seattle; these flights replaced several routes formerly operated by Alaska Airlines' sister carrier Horizon Air. Likewise the majority of the CRJ-700s SkyWest flew under the Alaska banner were leased, having formerly served with the Horizon fleet, prior to the latter converting to an all-turboprop fleet consisting of Bombardier DHC-8-400s.

The CRJ-700s were utilized on routes where the Alaska Air Group felt there was still a need for a 70-seat regional jet to serve on; in other words, routes that were too thin for mainline Boeing 737s and too far for Horizon's Q400s. Initially, the routes were mainly to several California cities including Fresno, Burbank, Santa Barbara and Ontario from Seattle and Portland, two of Alaska Airlines' main hubs. Today, SkyWest Airlines currently flies to 18 destinations throughout the United States and Canada for Alaska Airlines including Boise, Bozeman, Burbank, Colorado Springs, Edmonton, Fresno, Las Vegas, Milwaukee, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Ontario (CA), Salt Lake City, Santa Barbara, San Diego, San Jose (CA), St. Louis, Steamboat Springs/Hayden and Tucson.

Much to the dismay of loyal Alaska Airlines customers, the Alaska-SkyWest CRJ-700s were configured in a single class layout with no First Class seating. That all changed on November 25, 2014, when Alaska Air Group and SkyWest enhanced their partnership and announced that the regional carrier was to operate seven two-class Embraer E-175s for Alaska Airlines starting in July, 2015 with options for eight more aircraft. The E-175s would be configured with 12 First Class seats and 64 Economy seats. The first E-Jet in the Alaska Airlines livery was delivered to SkyWest on June 3, 2015. On June 1, 2015, Alaska Airlines announced that it would exercise the eight options on E-175s and converted them to actual orders to replace the eight CRJ-700s SkyWest Airlines operates for a total of 15 E-175s. The 15th and final E-175 for the Alaska-SkyWest capacity purchase agreement was delivered to SkyWest on October 8, 2016. As for the CRJ-700s, the last official flight occurred on November 17, 2016. At least one airframe was being retained for a little while longer as a stand-by aircraft when needed. The rest, if not most of the CRJ-700s bearing the Alaska-SkyWest colors have been sent down to Tuscon for storage.

Having photographed every Alaska-SkyWest CRJ-700 airframe at Portland International Airport within the past four years, here's a short montage:

Bombardier CL-600-2C10 CRJ-700 (N218AG). Formerly with Horizon Air as N618QX.

Bombardier CL-600-2C10 CRJ-701 (N224AG). Formerly with Horizon Air as N607QX and then leased to South African Express as ZS-NLT before going to SkyWest.

Bombardier CL-600-2C10 CRJ-700 (N216AG). Formerly with Horizon Air as N606QX and the second CRJ-700 to be delivered to SkyWest to be used exclusively for Alaska Airlines.

Bombardier CL-600-2C10 CRJ-700 (N225AG). Formerly with Horzion Air as N610QX  and then leased to South African Express as ZS-NBD before going to SkyWest.

Bombardier CL-600-2C10 CRJ-702 (N219AG). Formerly with Horizon Air as N619QX.

Bombardier CL-600-2C10 CRJ-700 (N223AG). Originally delivered as a CRJ-701 to Horizon Air as N602QX. It then flew for for Frontier Airlines as Frontier JetExpress from June 2007 to November 2007 before getting painted in the University of Washington Huskies livery. Airframe then went on lease to South African Express as ZS-NLV before going to SkyWest.

Bombardier CL-600-2C10 CRJ-701 (N215AG). This airframe was the very first CRJ-700 to be painted in the Alaska Airlines livery for the capacity purchase agreement. Formerly with Horizon Air as N601QX.

Bombardier CL-600-2C10 CRJ-700 (N217AG). Formerly with Horizon Air as N609QX and formerly painted in the Oregon State University Beavers livery. As of this posting, this airframe has been retained as a back-up aircraft when needed.

Bombardier CL-600-2C10 CRJ-701ER (N227AG). Unlike the rest of the sub-fleet, this airframe never served with Horizon Air. It formerly served as D-ACPD for Lufthansa CityLine and was acquired by SkyWest in February 2014 after another CRJ-700 was taken out of service after being damaged in a ground incident.

The initial Alaska-SkyWest agreement called for eight CRJ-700s, but SkyWest ended up operating nine different airframes during this brief tenure before switching over to the E-175. Despite the fact the CRJs are a somewhat despised aircraft type due to their cabin size, it will be missed by aviation enthusiasts as there will never again be a CRJ-700 in the Alaska Airlines livery. It was a rare sight for many spotters because there just wasn't many of this particular aircraft-type painted in the Alaska livery. And as a spotter, you will miss seeing what was a unique sight to specific geographic region. It's doubtful that the passengers that flew on them will miss them though!