SkyWest Airlines operates the Embraer ERJ-175 under multiple codeshare agreements, including United Express, Delta Connection, and Alaska Airlines, giving new-hire first officers a meaningfully different flying experience depending on which base they select. The question of base selection at a regional carrier like SkyWest is not merely a lifestyle preference — it directly determines upgrade timeline, the contractual flying environment, trip pairing quality, and long-term career trajectory. For a new ERJ first officer, these variables compound quickly and can represent a difference of years in reaching the left seat.
Upgrade speed at SkyWest, as at virtually all Part 121 carriers, is governed by seniority within a base or domicile. Smaller or newer bases with active fleet growth tend to offer faster upgrade opportunities because the relative seniority position of a new hire is more favorable. Historically, bases tied to expanding contract flying — particularly those supporting Alaska Airlines flying out of the Pacific Northwest, including Portland and Seattle — have seen competitive upgrade times due to network growth in that region. Conversely, legacy-heavy bases like Chicago O'Hare or Denver tend to carry deeper seniority lists that can extend an FO's time-in-grade significantly. Salt Lake City, as SkyWest's headquarters city, offers a large and diverse base but also reflects the carrier's most mature seniority concentration.
Quality of life at a regional base hinges on several intersecting factors: commutability to the domicile, cost of living in the surrounding area, the structure of trip pairings, and which contract flying the base primarily supports. Bases operating under the United Express contract, for example, tend to fly different route profiles than Delta Connection flying, which can affect layover quality, duty rigs, and overnight destinations. New hires who intend to commute — a common arrangement at the regional level — must evaluate whether the base is reachable via positive-space or jump-seat on carriers they have reciprocal agreements with, as a difficult commute can erode any quality-of-life advantage a base otherwise offers.
The broader context for this question reflects an ongoing structural reality in U.S. regional aviation: the regional pilot pipeline has tightened considerably since 2021, and carriers like SkyWest have responded with improved compensation and hiring incentives, but base-level seniority dynamics have not fundamentally changed. SkyWest's relative financial stability — the carrier has been consistently profitable compared to many regional peers — provides some assurance that bases will remain open and contract flying will continue, but new hires must still conduct individualized analysis of each domicile's seniority data, which the carrier makes available through its crew resources or via industry forums. For pilots weighing this decision, the conventional wisdom is that sacrificing initial quality of life at a faster-upgrade base often yields better long-term outcomes than optimizing for comfort at a senior-heavy domicile where captain vacancies move slowly.