January 23, 2011 - The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York approved Mesa Air Group’s Plan of Reorganization, clearing the way for the airline’s emergence from Chapter 11. “This is an exciting day for everyone at Mesa,” said Jonathan Ornstein, Mesa’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. 

Mesa Airlines, Inc. is an American regional airline based in Phoenix, Arizona. It is a FAA Part 121 certificated air carrier operating under air carrier certificate number MASA036A issued on June 29, 1979. It is a subsidiary of Mesa Air Group. It was known briefly as Mountain West Airlines from 1995 to 1996.

Among the company’s restructuring accomplishments, Mesa extended the term of is code-share agreement with US Airways, Inc. through September 2015, eliminated over 100 unnecessary aircraft leases and financings that contributed to the deleveraging of Mesa’s balance sheet in the approximate amount of $700 million in capitalized leases and $50 million in debt. In addition, restructured aircraft leases and financings for Mesa’s fleet of CRJ 200 and Dash 8 aircraft resulting in flexibility and no long-term lease exposure on the CRJ 200 50-seat regional jet aircraft and Mesa will emerge as a private company and issue new notes, common stock, and warrants to its creditors.  

“Mesa is now poised to enter its next chapter as a strong airline ready to compete in an ever changing industry. We are particularly proud of the fact that during our restructuring, Mesa achieved – and has consistently maintained – regional airline leading operational performance as reported by the U.S. Dept. of Transportation, including Mesa achieving the highest monthly On Time Performance of all regional airlines since May 2010. This strong operational performance is a tribute to the hard work and dedication of all of our employees and came during a time when many of our employees contributed to our financial savings through the taking of additional unpaid days off. This level of dedication and associated strong operational performance has provided a strong foundation upon which to return our airline to sustained profitability and future growth,” concluded Ornstein.

On February 13, 2008, the pilots of a go! CRJ200, Air Shuttle Flight 1002 (N651BR) fell asleep and overshot their destination airport by 26 nautical miles (48 km; 30 mi) before Air Traffic Control was able to make contact with the aircraft. The incident happened on the third consecutive day during which the pilots had been required to start duty at 0540 am. The captain suffered from an undiagnosed severe sleep apnea.