Mesa Airlines posts $35m fiscal Q2 loss amid ‘tough’ transition
US regional carrier Mesa Airlines reported a loss of $35.1m during its fiscal second quarter of 2023, as the airline worked to cut ties with longtime partner American Airlines in favour of a new deal with United Airlines. Mesa lost $42.8m during the same three months ending 31 March of last year. The Phoenix-based carrier said during its 9 May quarterly earnings call that revenue was $121.8m, down slightly from $123.2m last year. The decreased revenue was due to “deferred revenue and lower block hours”, the airline says. The carrier flew nearly 27% fewer block-hours compared with its Q2 2022. “This is obviously a tough quarter,” says CE Jonathan Ornstein. ”We have a ways to go. United has been extremely supportive in terms of helping us through this.” Last year, Ornstein said that Mesa has been losing $5m a month operating for American Airlines, which penalised its regional partner for not flying enough block hours, and also poached Mesa’s pilots. Mesa severed its contract with the Fort Worth-based carrier in December and then finalised a five-year capacity purchase agreement with United shortly afterwards. Previously, the regional carrier had operated on behalf of American and United as American Eagle and United Express, respectively. Mesa began transitioning its Bombardier CRJ-900s to United in March and stopped operating for American Airlines on 3 April. The fleet transition has been “a major project for the company”, says Michael Lotz, the company’s president and CFO. He is assuming expanded duties following the recent retirement of COO Brad Rich. “United has never operated the CRJ-900 in their regional fleet,” Lotz says. ”So everything from seat maps to jetway staging, ground handling procedures and fuelling are all new to the United operation.” To date, 24 CRJ-900s have been transitioned to United. The total fleet contracted to fly for United will include 80 large regional jets – a mix of Embraer 175s and CRJ-900s, Lotz says. The carrier will also continue operating four Boeing 737s on behalf of DHL. <br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2023-05-10/unaligned/mesa-airlines-posts-35m-fiscal-q2-loss-amid-2018tough2019-transition
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Mesa Airlines posts $35m fiscal Q2 loss amid ‘tough’ transition
US regional carrier Mesa Airlines reported a loss of $35.1m during its fiscal second quarter of 2023, as the airline worked to cut ties with longtime partner American Airlines in favour of a new deal with United Airlines. Mesa lost $42.8m during the same three months ending 31 March of last year. The Phoenix-based carrier said during its 9 May quarterly earnings call that revenue was $121.8m, down slightly from $123.2m last year. The decreased revenue was due to “deferred revenue and lower block hours”, the airline says. The carrier flew nearly 27% fewer block-hours compared with its Q2 2022. “This is obviously a tough quarter,” says CE Jonathan Ornstein. ”We have a ways to go. United has been extremely supportive in terms of helping us through this.” Last year, Ornstein said that Mesa has been losing $5m a month operating for American Airlines, which penalised its regional partner for not flying enough block hours, and also poached Mesa’s pilots. Mesa severed its contract with the Fort Worth-based carrier in December and then finalised a five-year capacity purchase agreement with United shortly afterwards. Previously, the regional carrier had operated on behalf of American and United as American Eagle and United Express, respectively. Mesa began transitioning its Bombardier CRJ-900s to United in March and stopped operating for American Airlines on 3 April. The fleet transition has been “a major project for the company”, says Michael Lotz, the company’s president and CFO. He is assuming expanded duties following the recent retirement of COO Brad Rich. “United has never operated the CRJ-900 in their regional fleet,” Lotz says. ”So everything from seat maps to jetway staging, ground handling procedures and fuelling are all new to the United operation.” To date, 24 CRJ-900s have been transitioned to United. The total fleet contracted to fly for United will include 80 large regional jets – a mix of Embraer 175s and CRJ-900s, Lotz says. The carrier will also continue operating four Boeing 737s on behalf of DHL. <br/>
