Originally Posted by
BobJenkins
I only know what I read on the interwebs. If you check Mesa-air.com, it only mentions 1982. But if you search that original certificate, several sites show it originating June 29 1979. I am not sure which is more accurate, but I was giving Mesa the benefit of the doubt. If I falsely claimed 3 extra years of life, I apologize.
Either way, they have been around a few years. Perhaps longer than many of their FOs.
Certificate date is usually well before flight operations start. Wikipedia (which has been known to be wrong upon occasion) says that operations started October 12, 1980, as Mesa Air Shuttle, a division of JB Aviation in Farmington NM. Its owners sold it to Larry and Janie Risley in 1982, starting the historic time-line still flying.