The Mesa Air Group has ordered another 16 Bombardier Canadair Regional Jets (CRJ) after signing a new marketing deal which will allow the regional carrier to operate the 50-seat aircraft as part of its US Airways Express operations.
The latest $350 million deal follows Mesa's order for 16 CRJs in 1996. Nine aircraft are already being operated - three on the group's America West Express service and the remainder on Mesa's independent Forth Worth, Texas, scheduled operations, which began in May.
Two more CRJs will join the scheduled operation this year, with the remaining 21 due for delivery over the next two years, including a fleet of 12 earmarked for the US Airways Express services.
Under the Bombardier deal, Mesa also converted its eight remaining de Havilland Dash 8-200 orders to eight CRJs.
Mesa chairman Larry Risley says that the carrier's Dash 8 fleet will continue to be operated on the group's United Express division, but he says that the 50-seat CRJ Series 200LR will be used for the group's "future growth plans".
Mesa subsidiaries Air Midwest and Mesa Airlines now operate 64 turboprops as US Airways Express, and the CRJ services are due to join them on selected routes from 19 January, starting with three aircraft being operated from Philadelphia. Services from Charleston, West Virginia, Charlotte, North Carolina and Washington National are due to follow.
The order comes as Mesa ended its financial year to the end of September showing a net loss of $4 million, following a profit of $30 million in 1995/6.
The group's sales crept up by 2%, to $500 million, while costs soared because of the new pilot contracts signed at the end of 1996, as well as higher maintenance costs and depreciation charges associated with the decision to buy 69 aircraft which were previously operated on lease.
Source: Flight International
