MESA to return Two airframes a year on USair side
This excerpt was taken from NOV faq page on US airways site
"(What is the current outlook on our wholly owned regional carriers: Will we see more or
less flying going to them? Any planned changes in fleet, if there is a shift in express
flying? Does the company give any priority to wholly owned versus contracted flying?
There are no changes planned at the moment with the only exception being that we have some
leases set to end at Piedmont in 2009/2010. We are currently in negotiations and are hopeful that
we can economically retain the aircraft. We have inducted the last of the aircraft in service with
Republic and the overall Express fleet will shrink marginally from here as we return Mesa aircraft
(two per year). Of course, we would welcome the opportunity to leverage our wholly-owned
carriers’ efficiency by adding aircraft and flying to them, but we will not be growing in this current
domestic environment. )"
As stated in my other post that was closed, this probably means 200's. However I believe that this could mean taking some of the 900's out of service. According to US Airways report as of OCT 2008 MESA only operates 11 CRJ-200's and I think by contract they are the only operator allowed to work US airways Express west but if someone else knows more about it please chime in. They also operate 38 CRJ-900's, but these are operated on both east and west sides of the Express system. If these aircraft were taken from the CRJ-900 bank that flying could be redistributed to any of the other express carriers. Since from what I have heard the express system also is over scope on large RJ's, But i don't have the contract or know it that well so this is pure speculation.