American Airlines Warns One of Its Regional Airlines to Improve

American Airlines wants Mesa Airlines, one of nine regional carriers operating as American Eagle, to improve its reliability, or American could take some of its business elsewhere. “American made clear they didn’t, quite frankly, want our money,” Mesa CEO Jonathan Orenstein said Tuesday. “They wanted the performance.” American has struggled with its own on-time reliability since merging with US Airways, and recently has placed an emphasis on it, believing it drives customer satisfaction. It is also pushing its contractors to improve, and it sought new contract terms recently with Mesa, which operates more than 60 Bombardier CRJ900s on regional routes. Under the new terms, Mesa could win higher incentive payments for reaching operational milestones. But it could also be punished if it does not meet American’s standards. Mesa has considerable work ahead. Its reliability lags the rest of the industry. <br/>