Just my opinion here, but UA currently has a partial stake in Commutair, and they are having trouble. I could see UA purchasing what's left of XJT and merging the two. I would assume that if that were to happen Skywest would probably keep the "lucrative" AA contracts.
This is all pure speculation and my opinion only of course, and I don't claim to be some business genius.
I think with the shortage of pilots, the only regionals around in a few years will be the ones that are owned by a major airline, and Skywest will probably be around too.
Again, just the opinion of a fairly new dispatcher who does not claim to know everything. It will be interesting to see what happens over the next few years.