Threre was an agreement. (I believe it was a 2 for 1 swap up to a max of 10 airframes) but our stellar folks at the top of the heap tried to give United a BS letter of intent to bring the additional 10 700's on property but wait until fall of last year (2010) for the first delivery because nobody would finance Mesa for an additional 10 airplanes with such a dismal looking balance sheet. This resulted in a disagreement between United and Mesa, with United's stance being that you start getting the airplanes as soon as the CRJ 200 Contract is terminated so we dont have a "Gap in Service" Also proof of aircraft orders and proof of crew training/staffing were demanded. None of which Mesa could provide. Instead the flying was granted to Express Jet/ASA. Yet another corporate hoodwink attempted by ML and JO. This resulted in a lawsuit being filed by United, which was subsequently settled/dropped somewhere in Bankrupcy.
(These are the facts as I know them Fellow MAG-ers feel free to correct)....although people are coming back the outlook is still dismal and we are slated to lose 5 CRJ700's for United come December 2011, unless a rabbit can be pulled out of hat...Some speculate that JO's bag of tricks was liquidated in Bankrupcy.

Good Luck To All