Mesa Air Group made it official this morning that it will shut down its Air Midwest subsidiary. In a press release just in from Mesa, the company details the shutdown dates for the cities served by Air Midwest. The Associated Press writes that Mesa will end service to cities throughout 10 states "because soaring fuel prices and low demand made keeping the operation running impossible. That includes cities served by Air Midwest under the federal government's Essential Air Service (EAS) program, which subsidizes flights on routes that would otherwise be unprofitable." Mesa says Air Midwest was losing money on those routes, even with the EAS subsidies.
Mesa says Air Midwest will shutdown on the following schedule: East Coast operations will end May 23, affecting Lewisburg, W. Va.; Dubois, Pa.; Franklin, Pa.; and Athens, Ga. West Coast operations end May 31, affecting Ely, Nev.; Merced, Calif.; Visalia, Calif.; Prescott, Ariz.; Kingman, Ariz.; and Farmington, N.M. Midwest operations cease on June 30, affecting Columbia, Mo.; Joplin, Mo.; Kirksville, Mo.; Grand Island, Neb.; McCook, Neb.; and Little Rock, Ark. Air Midwest flies as a regional carrier for bigger airlines, notably for US Airways.
"We are extremely saddened this decision has become necessary; Air Midwest has a long and proud history and has served millions of passengers in its 43 years of operation," Mesa CEO Jonathan Ornstein says in a statement. "Unfortunately under the current economic conditions there was no foreseeable way to achieve sustained profitability. Even with subsidies from the DOT, Air Midwest has been unable to sustain profitability for the last several years. While this was an extremely difficult decision, and one that the company worked tirelessly to avoid, we are working diligently to minimize the impact this decision will have on Air Midwest's passengers and employees."