US REGIONAL MESA Air Group has re-organised into four operating divisions, aligned with its codesharing partners. The move comes as Mesa consolidates flight and maintenance operations to comply with regulations upgrading US regionals from Part 135 to Part 121 certification.
Four operating divisions and two subsidiaries have been combined into four new divisions: America West Express, United Express, US Airways Express and Independent. The latter includes Mesa's Fort Worth, Texas-based Bombardier Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ) operation, which is scheduled to begin services on 5 May.
Mesa is the largest independently owned regional airline, operating 183 aircraft. Under the new structure, America West Express operates 15 aircraft, including two Fokker 70s to be replaced by CRJs from July, while United Express operates 85 aircraft, USAirways 77, and independent Mesa Airlines six Raytheon Beech 1900s.
After a US Federal Aviation Administration safety inspection in 1996, Mesa agreed to upgrade its operations. The company is to establish a single maintenance-control centre at its Farmington, New Mexico, headquarters, and a training centre in Dallas, Texas. Mesa says that it has appointed key individuals to head its centralised maintenance, flight-operations, system-control and training functions, while eliminating duplicate positions within its divisions through the consolidation.
Source: Flight International
