Guy Norris/PHOENIX
THE MESA AIR GROUP, the largest independently owned regional carrier in the USA, is considering the possible purchase of the rival Continental Express operation.
Mesa Air chief executive Larry Risley confirms that the proposal was considered and discussed by the board at a meeting on 2 June. Risley says: "It was not an offer. It is simply a proposal that has been put on the table."
Mesa Air, which carries an average of 400,000 passengers a month through its six airline divisions, has been facing increasing competition from Houston, Texas-based Continental Express. Hardest hit has been Mesa's Florida Gulf division, which has been dealing with a growing Continental Express presence in Florida and Louisiana since 1994.
The proposed sale is part of Continental Airline's recovery plan. The operator ended 1994 with a $613 million loss, compared with a $39 million loss in 1993.
Wholly owned Continental Express offers more than 600 departures daily, primarily from Continental's hubs in Newark, Houston and Cleveland.
Risley, speaking at the formal hand-over ceremony of Mesa's first jet aircraft, a Fokker 70, at Phoenix, Arizona, declines to speculate on the outcome of the director's meeting, but says that Mesa's growth will continue.
Under its latest expansion phase, Mesa has set up its sixth operating division, Desert Sun Airlines, to fly the first two Fokker 70s in airliner service, in the USA for America West Express. The first aircraft begin services on 12 June, between Des Moines, Iowa, Phoenix and Las Vegas, Nevada.
"We have options for six additional aircraft," says Risley, who adds that the Fokker 70s will be aimed at "...long-haul secondary market sectors up to and over 1,000 miles [1,600km] that feed into metropolitan hubs". The 78- passenger aircraft will be used on routes on which America West formerly operated Boeing 737s before it restructured.
Including the two Fokker 70s, Mesa plans to increase its fleet to 192 aircraft by year end, an overall growth of 18 over 1994. The group will take delivery of 29 Beechcraft 1900Ds, 11 Embraer Brasilias and seven de Havilland Dash 8s during the year, while returning seven Beechcraft 1900Bs, 12 1900Cs, seven older Brasilias and five Shorts 360s.
Source: Flight International
