Everytime a Mesa 900 CA calls in sick or takes vacation, they're paid at the -200 rate--Airways has saved millions of dollars over the last decade because Mesa keeps those 200s on their certificate.

I don't think Airways minds playing along with Mesa's little contractual scam and buying off a few pax here and there--it keeps their costs down significantly, and as we've seen with Eagle they're willing to play whatever games necessary to keep costs as low as possible.