Ok, time for a little history lesson.
There was a time, we'll say that time was late 2004. Delta announced the closing of a base near and dear to many of us at ASA (DFW). As a result of this base closing, ASA had about 50 or so spare airplanes that they didn't have room for in ATL. The 200s were sent mainly to CVG to backfill the loss of the 328s, and the 700s were sent to SLC for some expansion as the hub grew.
At the time, the Delta scope clause limited the 70-seat flying to 58 aircraft between only ASA and Comair (there were actually 59 aircraft but that's another story for another time.) Delta wanted 70-seat RJs in SLC and by the Delta scope clause SkyWest could not fly these aircraft. That's where ASA came in, and is why we opened a SLC base.
Shortly thereafter, the Delta pilots signed a concessionary agreement that, among other things, lifted the 70-seat cap to 200 aircraft and allowed non-wholly-owned carriers (that's you, SkyWest) to fly them. SkyWest still had no 70-seat Delta flying at that time, but us at ASA knew our days were numbered out West.
Not long after that, SkyWest, Inc. purchased ASA from Delta. As a result of the purchase, SkyWest, Inc. took over ASA's remaining orders and options. The 5 CRJ 700s delivered to SkyWest Airlines came directly off of the ASA order book, and were undelivered aircraft from the 2003 DAL RFP (of which ASA was awarded 25 aircraft, and of that we only had 14 deliveries). Also, the CRJ 900 deliveries to SkyWest Airlines were order conversions of former ASA delivery slots and options. Add to that the transfer of ships 701, 702, 703, and 705, and you have one hell of a welcome to the SkyWest family.