US regional Mesa Air Group is to codeshare with Midwest Express Airlines from its hub at Kansas City, Missouri. The once-struggling carrier has also expanded and extended its codeshare agreements with US Airways.
Mesa's Air Midwest subsidiary, which already operates as a US Airways Express carrier at Kansas City, will carry Midwest Express' code on regional turboprop flights to 14 destinations from the first quarter of next year. The two codeshared until 1993, when Mesa began to experience operational and financial problems.
Midwest Express, which already has hubs in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Omaha, Nebraska, began services from Kansas City late last month with flights to seven cities. The carrier's own Skyway Airlines regional subsidiary began services to three cities at the same time.
The Air Midwest codeshare services will not duplicate those already operated by Skyway and will allow Midwest Express to build its Kansas City presence rapidly, the airline says.
Mesa, meanwhile, has reached agreement to add four regional jets to its US Airways Express services, which had been capped at 28 aircraft, all 50-seat Embraer ERJ-145s. The terms of its codeshare contract have been extended by 18 months, from 2007 to 2008. US Airways has also extended Mesa's codeshare agreement for turboprop flying in Kansas City for five years, to 2005. Two other codeshare agreements have been extended.
Source: Flight International
