Good day. Welcome to the SkyWest Incorporated 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. I would like to turn the conference over to Jerry Atkin, Chairman of the Board. Please go ahead.
Good morning. I'm Jerry C. Atkin, Chairman of the Board of SkyWest Inc. Welcome to the SkyWest Inc. 2021 Annual Shareholders Meeting. Thank you for joining our virtual shareholder meeting. If you encounter any technical difficulties accessing or participating in the meeting, please refer to the support phone number on the annual meeting web page for information on how to reach the support team. We have shareholders attending via the web portal. Consistent with past practices, we will conduct the business portion of the meeting first. Following the meeting, I will turn the call over to Chip Childs, Chief Executive Officer and President of SkyWest Inc., for closing comments. I would like to start by introducing the directors of SkyWest Inc., who are nominated for election and participating on today's call: Jerry C. Atkin, W. Steve Albrecht, Russell A. Childs, Smita Conjeevaram, Meredith S. Madden, Ron J. Mittelstaedt, Andrew C. Roberts.
Keith E. Smith, Steven F. Udvar-Házy , James L. Welch. Henry Eyring is not standing for reelection at today's shareholder meeting. Henry has served as a member of SkyWest Board from 1995- 2003 and then also since 2006. I'd like to thank Henry for his many years of service and contributions to SkyWest. Also joining us today are several corporate officers of SkyWest Inc. and SkyWest Airlines, including Russell Chip Childs President and CEO, Robert Simmons, Chief Financial Officer, Wade Steel, Chief Commercial Officer, Eric Woodward, Chief Accounting Officer. Other guests joining us today include Shelene Brown from Zions First National Bank, serving as our transfer agent, Craig Garner from Latham & Watkins, serving as our legal counsel, and Shawn Goff from Ernst & Young, serving as our independent auditors. We will now call the annual shareholders meeting to order.
An affidavit has been delivered attesting to the fact that a notice of the annual meeting, the proxy statement describing the matters of business to be addressed at this meeting, and instructions on how to vote were mailed on or about March 22nd, 2021, and were made available to each shareholder of record as of the close of business on March 4th, 2021, the record date for this meeting. On that date, there were 50,304,540 shares of common stock issued and outstanding. A list of shareholders as of the close of business on the record date is available on the web portal for your review. The Board of Directors has appointed Zions First National Bank to act as inspector of election at this meeting. Zions is represented today by Shelene Brown.
I have been informed by the inspector of election that the shares present, attending virtually or represented by proxy, are in excess of the quorum requirements, so we will begin the meeting. I declare this meeting lawfully and properly convened. We will proceed to the business for which the meeting has been called, as stated in the notice of annual meeting. The meeting will proceed as follows. First, I will introduce each of the three items that are to be voted upon at this meeting. After completion of the three items of business, I will report the results of the balloting and adjourn the official part of the meeting. Afterwards, Chip Childs, SkyWest CEO and President, will provide closing comments.
The first item to be voted on at this meeting is the election of the 10 nominees for director described in the proxy statement to serve until the next annual meeting of shareholders of the company and until their respective successors have been duly elected and qualified. The Board of Directors recommends that you vote for the election of each of the 10 nominees. The company's proxy statement contains the names and biographies of each nominee. The next item of business we will address is commonly referred to as a "say-on-pay" proposal. We are asking our shareholders to approve, on an advisory basis, the compensation of the company's named executive officers, as more fully described in the proxy statement. This vote is not intended to address any specific element of compensation.
Rather, the vote relates to all aspects of the compensation of those executive officers as described in the proxy statement. The Board of Directors recommends that you vote for this proposal. The last item of business we will address at this meeting is the proposal to ratify the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP to serve as the independent registered public accounting firm of the company for the year ending December 31st, 2021. The Board of Directors recommends that you vote for this proposal. If any shareholder has any questions regarding any of the proposals, please submit your questions through the web portal now, and the company will respond as soon as practical. General questions about the company may be submitted to the investor relations contact listed on SkyWest's website at inc.skywest.com. The polls are now open.
Any shareholder who hasn't yet voted or wishes to change its vote may do so by clicking on the voting button on the web portal and following the instructions contained therein. Shareholders who have already sent in their proxies or voted via telephone or Internet and do not want to change their vote do not need to take any further action. As all the shareholders present virtually at the annual meeting or by proxy have had an opportunity to vote, I now declare that the polls are closed. The Inspector of Election has provided her report on the results of the voting. The report of the Inspector of Election indicates as follows: Each of the 10 nominees for director has received a majority of the votes cast and has been reelected as a director of the company.
The proposal to approve on an advisory basis the compensation of the company's named executive officers has been approved. The proposal to ratify the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP to serve as the independent registered public accounting firm of the company for the year ending December 31st, 2021, has been approved. These results will be included as part of the official record of this meeting. There being no further business to come before the meeting, this concludes the formal portion of the meeting. The meeting is hereby adjourned. I will now turn the call over to Chip Childs for closing comments.
Thank you, Jerry. Thank you all for your interest in SkyWest and joining us on the call today. This is an unprecedented time for the airline industry and for SkyWest. I specifically just want to thank our professionals for providing outstanding service to our customers throughout this challenging time. Our professionals are simply the best in the industry, and we appreciate everything that you do. This concludes today's call.