To answer your question on the "700 rumor", it is not a rumor. Paul Foley came into our ground school and spelled it out. Mesa has a clause in our United contract that allows Mesa to add 10 additional 700's. There are only two huge hurdles that Mesa has to overcome before we can fill those 700 slots.
1. 700's are not easy to find, thus not cheap.
2. Mesa's credit sucks so financing is virtually impossible. The key is the word virtually. It can be done but numerous other factors need to fall in place first. Almost all of which are outside Mesa's control.

With that said I highly doubt that news has anything to do with the fluctuation of Mesa stock. It has been known for many years now and is not something new. The small rise in stock price probably has more to do with investors trying to make a quick buck on cheap stock and less to do with informed trading.