It would be quite easy to conceive a book on Mesa Airlines because this airline has a vast history that spans all the way from the 1980′s. The airline definitely put in a lot of work to ensure the growth and expansion of the company and their planes. Mesa really turned things around for themselves after the awful attacks of 9/11. Since December of 2001, the company has enjoyed profitable quarters, even though they entered into a brief bankruptcy proceedings to reduce overhead and expenses. The leadership of the company has been outstanding and they really have earned their praise.
Larry and Jane Risley started Mesa Airlines in 1980 when it was a division of a company called, JB Aviation. The airline changed its name to Mesa Air Shuttle, in 1982, and operated out of Albuquerque, New Mexico, for the next five years. After some time the company relocated their main hub to Arizona and started looking for partners to share codes with. Most major and minor airlines still share code agreements and it’s a very common practice within the airline industry. A code share agreement was reached between America West Airlines and Mesa in 1992, allowing them to move forward.
Mesa Airlines started from the humblest beginnings when they had only one lone aircraft that served two cities. By the end of the first ten years of business, they had 38 aircraft flying passengers to 63 cities in the US as a regional carrier. They also began to trade on the stock exchange as they changed from a private company to a public one. A code share deal was brokered between Mesa Airlines and Midwest Express airlines in the 80′s. This deal let Mesa Airline grow by allowing them to run an operation from Milwaukee in Wisconsin. Mesa obtained a very valuable code sharing partnership with United Airlines, letting them create United Express which let them fly out of Denver, Colorado.
What happened on 9/11 caused a massive amount of strain to hit the airline industry. Bankruptcy protection was needed for some airlines just months after 9/11. Mesa Airlines reacted quickly and drafted in plans to make their losses as small as possible. Everything that was making them little profit was eliminated. They then decided to cut down costs wherever they could without dramatically effecting their operations. Their final step was to use their code sharing agreements to work their way back up to making a profit. The end result produced profitable quarters for every year since the close of 2001.
The condition of Mesa’s finances in March 2011, when they emerged from the bankruptcy, were great. Since doing this, Mesa Airways have been able to continue making a profit. In addition, they have sought to bring key management personnel back into the company since they have valuable experience with Mesa.
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