*************

 

I guess US Airways figured out the JO is a big crook.
From CNBC:

Jan 13 (Reuters) - Mesa Air Group Inc: * Says received notice of US Airways Group intent to cut one CRJ-200 in January 2009, one in July 2009 and one CRJ-200 in January 2010 * Sees US Airways to continue to further cut number of covered aircraft in accordance with pact - SEC filing * Air's auditor says expressed adverse opinion on co's internal control over financial reporting because of a material weakness ((Bangalore Equities Newsroom; +91 80 4135 5800; within U.S. +1 646 223 8780)) (For more news, please click here) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved.

The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.

 

Mesa 4th. quarter 2008 earnings

Mesa Air Group - Press Releases

 

Listen to JO's conference call at Noon ET:

Mesa Air Group - Event Details

 

statement....more like a rant of my perspective on Mesa being a poor company.

And it can't be said that any company is like this.

 

Doug Parker has never been a fan of OJ...he inherited him. MAG loaned AWA money when they were in BK in the 90's, in exchange mesa got a long term contract. Parker has just not been able to find a way out of it yet. It expires in 2012 and has some early-withdrawal provisions for a few aircraft...which Parker has been executing like clockwork for the last several years.

 

I didn't want to dive into a Mesa Bashing thread....but I wanted to read this because I did not know the outcome of the shareholder vote. I have a little better idea 5 minutes later....but not a much better idea. It sounds crazy what is being done to keep the company alive.

I am surprised to see people question why all non-mesa employees are eagarly waiting for a knock out punch. Quite simple and non-emotional, the ultra-low cost pilot contract that was ratified six or seven years ago invalidated the Comair strike and initiated negative pattern bargaining. (That is everyone bidding below everyone else to retain work.)

The negative pattern bargaining forced people to look themselves in the mirror and acknowledge something that they may still wish to aviod...
The fact that all airline seniority lists are nothing more than pyramid schemes. The only reason a senior captian can enjoy good schedule and good pay is because there are many below him that get poor schedule and poor pay.
The antidote for a company that does not want to pay senior labor costs is to simply employ a "portfolio concept" and introduce a younger cheaper company to the market. Negative pattern bargaining continues. Management is never forced to actually manage....or improve the product, they simply have a relatively stable (certainly not increasing) price and they work to lower cost to increase profit. Most industries try to offer a better/more reliable product and increase profit by charging more for it.

There will always be a "bad guy" in this arrangement. Mesa is obviously the bad guy.

I personally have suffered a downgrade, and my company has furloughed as a result of the judges stay. If Delta was allowed to dump Mesa as they had wished....this may not have occured. Comair as a whole has lived under the assumption that all the pain we are feeling is a direct result of mesa flying in Delta paint.

I was a afforded the opportunity to speak to Jon Bedoritis...the new and fifth president Comair has had in 6 years, and learned that this sentiment at Comair (and truly..industry wide) is not entirely accurate. Bendoritis said that he personally believed that Mesa would not survive beyond the first quarter 2009 but that he has been told in meetings in Atlanta that NOBODY will benefit from thier banckruptcy because ALL of the Mesa flying for DCI is MARKED FOR DELETION from the Delta system.

To read this another way.... if Delta loses the lawsuit and JO can actually raise the cash to keep the corpse alive..... ALL other DCI carriers have the potential to suffer. Most specifically would be the wholey owned (Comair, Mesaba, Compass).

 

More importantly though...you of course got the prior written consent of Reuters, right?

 

OOOOHHHHHHHHH I'm tellinnnnnnnnnn!!!!!!!

 

Not exactly true. If DAL can unload mesa right now, I'm sure they will just use it as a capacity cut. But when things turn around, that's more flying available for the rest of DCI. And a slightly higher lowest-common-denominator.