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Reorganization
As Mesa acquired air carriers or expanded by creating new airlines, it grew in a seemingly haphazard manner. By 1995, Mesa had grown from one airline with hubs in Albuquerque and Phoenix in 1989, to six separate airlines with hubs throughout the country, though it had as many as eight airlines prior to 1995. Rather than integrating each new acquisition and airline into one integrated company, Mesa continued operating each individual airline independently, with separate labor groups, separate flight, maintenance, and marketing operations, and separate codeshare agreements. This resulted in an unwieldy corporate structure.
In 1992, Mesa created Mesa Holdings Corp to manage the existing Mesa Airlines and its acquisitions. It resulted in the following subsidiaries:
Air Midwest (Kansas City)
Mesa Airlines
America West Express (Phoenix)
FloridaGulf Airlines (Tampa)
Mesa Airlines (Albuquerque)
United Express (Denver)
Skyway Airlines (Milwaukee)
WestAir Commuter Airlines (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle)
San Juan Pilot Training (forerunner to Mesa Pilot Development)
Desert Turbine Services
In 1995, Mesa Holdings Corp was renamed Mesa Air Group, and Mesa Airlines was renamed Mountain West Airlines. Mesa Air Group now consisted of the following six airlines and subsidiaries:
Air Midwest (Kansas City/USAir Express)
Desert Sun Airlines (Phoenix/America West Express)
FloridaGulf Airlines (Tampa, Orlando, New Orleans, Boston, Philadelphia/USAir Express)
Liberty Express Airlines (Pittsburgh/USAir Express)
Mountain West Airlines
Mesa Airlines (Albuquerque)
United Express (Denver, Los Angeles (former CalPac), Portland, Seattle)
America West Express (Phoenix)
WestAir Commuter Airlines (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle/United Express)
Desert Turbine Services
Four Corners Aviation
Mesa Pilot Development
Regional Aircraft Services
In 1996, further company reorganization consolidated the separate flight dispatch functions of Desert Sun, FloridaGulf, and Mountain West airlines into one location in Farmington. All flight training facilities and human resources were centralized in Fort Worth. Since the mergers had created a diverse mix of aircraft types, Mesa proceeded to simplify the number of aircraft types operated from six (Shorts 360, Jetstream, Brasilia, 1900, Dash 8, Fokker) to three (1900, Dash 8, CRJ). Mesa relocated aircraft to place all airplanes of the same type in a base, with the Jetstreams and Brasilias flying in the West, 1900s flying elsewhere. This also allowed the consolidation of maintenance facilities, since the facilities no longer needed to service all the different types of aircraft Mesa operated. To replace the Fokker aircraft, Mesa signed an agreement with Bombardier to purchase 16 Canadair Regional Jets (CRJ) with options for 32 more.
The six pilot groups had voted to unionize in 1994. In 1996, the pilot groups of the six airlines were merged into one common seniority list, and under the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) representation, the pilots and Mesa negotiated and ratified a five-year collective bargaining agreement.
When Mesa started taking deliveries of the CRJ in 1997, it returned to two Fokker 70 jets and placed the CRJs in service in Phoenix. Mesa started an independent hub providing CRJ service from Fort Worth Meacham to Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Colorado Springs, and from Colorado Springs to Nashville. This effort proved to be unsuccessful and the service from Fort Worth ended in less than a year.
[edit]Difficulties and loss of the United codeshare
