New: SkyWest Airlines Passes Tax Savings On To Employees
Posted by John Kartch on Saturday, January 20th, 2018, 4:19 PM PERMALINK

SkyWest Airlines is sharing the benefits of federal tax reform with its employees.

According to an internal memo the company will increase 401(k) contributions, increase capital expenditures, and increase charitable donations, and will enhance the existing bonus and incentive programs. According to the memo (emphasis mine):

SkyWest’s Financial Performance Rewards and other workgroup bonus programs pay employees on a percentage of the SkyWest Airlines net margin. Historically, these programs have been modeled to neutralize any tax impact (which has been generally negative) to employees. However, under new tax reform, the company will modify those models to pass the benefit on to employees. As a result, employees are expected to enjoy a nearly 17 percent increase in 2018 financial bonuses for every eligible employee.

The full memo is below:

COMMENTS
Employees of Alaska Air Group companies Alaska Airlines, Virgin America and Horizon Air are receiving $118 million in incentive bonuses today.

For most employees, this equates to an average of more than 7 percent of their annual pay in 2017. In addition, 23,000 Air Group employees will receive a one-time $1,000 bonus on Jan. 29 from additional tax savings the company expects to receive this year.