SkyWest Airlines has announced that it will open a new maintenance facility. As reported by the Salina Post, SkyWest has selected Salina Regional Airport to be the location of its newest maintenance base, located in the state of Kansas. It will become operational in the early spring of 2026, and will expand upon an already large customer service base at the airport.

SkyWest Airlines is the world’s largest regional airline. With a fleet of over 500 airliners, SkyWest is smaller than only Ryanair, China Eastern, Southwest, China Southern, Delta, American, and United. It operates the Bombardier CRJ series and the Embraer E175 for Alaska Horizon, Delta Connection, American Eagle (the largest regional division in the US), as well as United Express (the regional division for the world’s largest airline).

A New Maintenance Base For SkyWest

SkyWest Airlines has announced that it will be opening a new maintenance base in Salina Regional Airport, located in the US state of Kansas. It is projected to open in the early spring of 2026 and will be SkyWest’s 14th maintenance base. This will also complement SkyWest’s existing network of line stations, of which there are 13 (one airport, Chicago O’Hare International Airport, hosts both a line station and a maintenance base).

Salina Regional Airport only has service from United Express, which schedules flights from Chicago-O’Hare, Denver, and Houston. These flights operate using SkyWest Bombardier CRJ regional airliners, and the station will likely be dedicated to servicing the CRJ. While it’s a small outstation for SkyWest and United Express, it’s well-positioned to serve as another major maintenance facility within SkyWest’s network.

SkyWest Airlines is promoting that the new facility will bring several new high-paying jobs to the area in addition to the customer service jobs already present. The carrier has received strong support from local and state government agencies, including the Kansas Department of Commerce, City of Salina, Salina County, Salina Airport Authority, and the Salina Community Economic Development Organization.

What Will The New Station Be Responsible For

The new station at Salina Regional Airport will be SkyWest Airlines’ 14th maintenance base. Of the other 13 locations, one of them also hosts a line station, while the rest of the line stations are located in different airports. A line station performs light maintenance checks on airliners to ensure that the aircraft is ready to continue flying in commercial service for the immediate service.

A full maintenance base is a location where an airline performs in-depth inspections and repairs. This includes regular checks, such as « C » and « D » checks (these exact terms are not used by every airline), as well as structural repairs and overhauls. Whereas SkyWest has 13 maintenance bases in operation, it has another 13 airports that host line stations.

In essence, line stations are the facilities for quick repairs, primarily to be made without taking an aircraft out of operation. A maintenance base is tasked with substantial repairs that take aircraft out of service for extended periods of time. This may be due to an aircraft component failure or due to the need to perform significant overhauls and inspections.

SkyWest Airlines’ Operations In The US

SkyWest Airlines is the largest regional airline in the United States and the world. It operates over 500 aircraft, made up of the Bombardier CRJ-200, CRJ-550, CRJ-700, CRJ-900, and the Embraer E175 for Alaska Horizon, American Eagle, Delta Connection, and United Express. Many regional airlines in the US are wholly-owned subsidiaries of major airlines, but SkyWest is an independent airline.

SkyWest has 11 bases located in the hubs of its mainline airline partners, with a focus on operations within the western part of the United States. It’s a major partner in the US’s Essential Air Service (EAS) program, which provides subsidies to operate to smaller cities. For these operations, it provides EAS service on behalf of Delta Connection and United Express. While its flights typically depart from one of its hubs, its maintenance bases are primarily located in smaller spoke airports, and only three are located in major airline hubs.