USREGIONAL MESABA Airlines has signed a new agreement with Northwest Airlines extending its operations to include all Northwest Airlink codeshare flights from Minneapolis/St Paul, Minnesota. Mesaba will take over from Express Airlines I on 1 August. Express will continue to operate as Northwest Airlink from Memphis, Tennessee.
The new service agreement will increase Mesaba's Airlink operations from Minneapolis to more than 130 daily flights, from 75. The airline will lease aircraft and crews from Express for six months and offer employment to all Express personnel based in Minneapolis.
Mesaba says that it will need to acquire additional Saab 340s to replace Express' Minneapolis-based British Aerospace Jetstream 31s and Saab 340s. The airline is taking delivery of 50 Saab 340s on order to replace its Fairchild Metros and de Havilland Dash 8s. It says that it has not decided yet whether to exercise its options with the manufacturer for an additional 22 Saab 340s, or acquire the aircraft elsewhere.
Under its agreement, Northwest will purchase all of Mesaba's available seat kilometres at a pre-determined rate and pay an additional fee for every passenger the regional carries. In return for the additional flying under its new agreement, Mesaba will issue Northwest a warrant to purchase 880,000 shares worth $12.5 million, raising the airline's stake in its regional affiliate to 35%.
Source: Flight International
