Mesa began operations as
Mesa Air Shuttle in
Farmington, New Mexico in 1980. From 1989 through 1998, Mesa Airlines operated as a conglomeration of up to eight separate airlines. For the history of the acquisition and expansion of Mesa Airlines during this time see
Mesa Air Group. The following history section details the history of the individual airlines that comprised Mesa Airlines during this time frame.
Mesa Airlines The original Mesa Air Shuttle was a flight division of JB Aviation in
Farmington, New Mexico, and operated a single route from Farmington to Albuquerque using a
Piper Saratoga aircraft. In 1981 as the first
Frontier Airlines (1950-1986) was discontinuing its flights between the two cities, Mesa obtained a twin-engine
Piper Navajo Chieftain and increased service on the route. In 1982, the original owners sold the company to Larry and Janie Risley. The Risleys quickly expanded the carrier by acquiring a fleet of 14-passenger seat
Beechcraft Model 99 commuter turboprops and adding service throughout New Mexico and surrounding states with a hub at Albuquerque. In 1985 larger 19-passenger seat
Beechcraft 1900s were acquired which replaced the Beechcraft Model 99s and became the backbone of Mesa's fleet. By 1987 up to 47 daily departures were operating from Albuquerque to 18 cities. Also in 1987, a Denver hub was created when Mesa acquired
Centennial Airlines which operated several routes from Denver into
Wyoming. After an initial route from Farmington and Gallup to Phoenix began in 1985, Phoenix was expanded into a hub in 1989 with new routes throughout Arizona. In 1990, most Denver flights were incorporated into the
United Express division which Mesa had acquired from Aspen Airways. In 1992, when Mesa established a
codeshare with
America West Airlines, its Phoenix hub was turned over to the America West Express division. A minor hub was also operated at Farmington in the late 1980s with up to 22 daily flights connecting Albuquerque, Phoenix, and Salt Lake City to Durango, Cortez, and Telluride, CO. For a brief time in 1995 and 1996, the Mesa Airlines operation at Albuquerque, the United Express operation in Denver, and the
America West Express operation in Phoenix were all known as operated by Mountain West Airlines. In 1997 and 1998, routes from Little Rock to Nashville and Wichita and from Nashville to Tupelo were added, first as Mesa Airlines, then later as
US Airways Express. In 1997, Mesa established a small hub at
Fort Worth Meacham International Airport, using two
Bombardier CRJ200 regional jet aircraft, providing service from
Fort Worth to
San Antonio,
Austin, and
Houston Hobby, as well as new routes from
Colorado Springs to
Nashville and
San Antonio. The venture was short-lived and these routes were all eliminated during a corporate restructuring. The
Albuquerque hub was merged into Air Midwest in 2001 but operated as a codeshare for Mesa Airlines until the hub was dissolved at the end of 2007. In 1998, Mesa moved its headquarters from Farmington, NM to Phoenix, AZ.
America West Express Fokker 70 in America West Express colors In September 1992, Mesa negotiated a
code-sharing agreement with
America West Airlines to operate as
America West Express out of its Phoenix hub, serving 12 cities. These routes were originally from the independent Mesa operation and Several
Beechcraft 1900D aircraft were painted in the America West Airlines scheme. The codeshare allowed increased frequency and increased load factors and expansion into several new markets. In 1995, Mesa created a new subdivision called Desert Sun Airlines and acquired a pair of
Fokker 70 jets for use on new
America West Express routes from Phoenix to
Des Moines and
Spokane. Desert Sun was merged into the Mesa Airlines division in 1997 and its Fokker 70 aircraft were replaced by
Bombardier CRJ200 regional jet aircraft. The CRJ-200 aircraft also began replacing the
Beechcraft 1900D and
Embraer EMB-120 turboprops. The Beechcraft 1900Ds were then transitioned over to Mesa's Air Midwest subsidiary. Beginning in December 1997, Mesa began operating
Dash 8-200 aircraft between Phoenix and
Grand Junction followed by many other cities throughout Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. In 2003, Mesa Airlines took over the operations of Freedom Airlines and Freedom Airlines'
CRJ900 regional jets were transferred into the America West Express operation. The Beechcraft 1900D flights operated by Air Midwest were discontinued on May 30, 2008. in
America West Express colors On September 16, 2005,
America West Airlines and
US Airways completed their merger. Although the corporate side and operationally, those companies merged, as of May 2008, the two flight operations have not been merged and Mesa continues to code share with the new US Airways Group as US Airways Express under its America West Express codeshare agreement. It operated CRJ-200 and CRJ-900 aircraft from hubs in Charlotte and Phoenix, and Dash 8 aircraft from its Phoenix hub until late 2011, when during Mesa's restructuring in bankruptcy, coinciding with United's cancelation of any further CRJ200 service by Mesa, the CRJ200s and Dash 8s were removed from service. By early 2012, the only airframe Mesa uses for the "west" side of US Airways out of its Phoenix hub and the "East" side out of its Charlotte hub is with the CRJ900.
US Airways Express in
US Airways Express colors In November 1997, Mesa negotiated a codeshare agreement to provide service to US Airways as US Airways Express for 14
regional jets to various cities from its
Philadelphia and Charlotte hubs. In 1998 and 2000, the agreement was expanded to 28 jets and then to 52 jets. The first CRJ200 aircraft began operating in 1998. As Mesa began taking deliveries of the
Embraer ERJ 145 aircraft in 2000, the CRJs were transferred to the America West division, separating the fleet types. In 2003, 20 CRJ200 aircraft were reintroduced to the US Airways Express division. With the reintroduction of the CRJ, the CRJ200 aircraft operated out of the Philadelphia hub, and the ERJ 145 aircraft operated out of the Charlotte hub. In 2005, Mesa's codeshare agreement with US Airways was not reaffirmed in bankruptcy court, and Mesa began transitioning the aircraft to other codeshares. Twenty-six ERJ aircraft were transitioned to Freedom Airlines, and the CRJ and remaining ERJs were transferred to Mesa's United Express operation. However, following the America West Airlines merger later that year, the Mesa contract for America West Express was retained and expanded to include non-former America West Express routes. All US Airways Express flying was converted to American Eagle on October 17, 2015, when the merger between American and US Airways was completed.
American Eagle As the merger process between
American Airlines and
US Airways was progressing, Mesa Airlines began operating as
American Eagle on November 6, 2014, with routes out of the American Airlines hubs at Dallas/Fort Worth and Los Angeles using CRJ-900 aircraft. US Airways Express routes from Charlotte and Phoenix were gradually shifted to American Eagle until the transition and merger was completed on October 17, 2015. As of December 17, 2022, American Eagle announced that they would part ways with Mesa Airlines due to financial troubles. In December 2022, Mesa announced that American Eagle flights would cease on April 3, 2023; Mesa cited losses stemming from utilization penalties and American Airlines' refusal to compensate Mesa for pilot wage increases it had enacted.
United Express in
United Express colors In 1990, Mesa acquired
Aspen Airways Denver hub and routes, except for Aspen's Denver to Aspen route. It attempted to acquire Aspen's codeshare with United. However United was unwilling to codeshare with an airline that only operated 19-seat turboprops. Mesa leased
Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia aircraft from its former competitor in New Mexico, Air Midwest. With the Brasilias in hand, Mesa gained a codeshare with United for its Denver hub. Several Beechcraft 1300 and Beechcraft 1900 aircraft were repainted with the United Airlines scheme. In 1995, California Pacific and its Los Angeles hub were merged into Mesa's United Express operation. After the closing of Superior Airlines'
Columbus hub, its aircraft and crews were used to expand United Express into
Portland and
Seattle. In 1997, operational difficulties with the Denver hub and disagreements over the renewal of Mesa's WestAir subsidiary codeshare with United resulted in the cancellation of Mesa's codeshare. In 2003, Mesa agreed to a service agreement with United for service out of their hubs at
Chicago-O'Hare,
Denver, and
Washington-Dulles under the
United Express banner. In October 2009 United decided to exercise its early termination option for the Dash 8 flying. The Dash 8 flying ended on April 30, 2010. Around the same time, United decided not to extend its CRJ200 operation and as a result, all of the Mesa CRJ200s (26 aircraft) flying under United Express were phased out by April 30, 2010. As of 2015, Mesa's United Express operations consisted of Embraer 175s flying out of the Houston hub and CRJ700s flying out of the Washington–Dulles hub. In December 2022, Mesa executed an agreement with United to add up to 38
Bombardier CRJ900 aircraft, dependent on the number
Embraer 175 aircraft Mesa still operated, starting in March 2023. Mesa would transfer its American Eagle crew and maintenance operations in Phoenix, Dallas-Fort Worth, El Paso, and Louisville to United Express, and would open a new CRJ900 crew base in Houston and a pilot base in Denver. United agreed to compensate Mesa for the pilot wage increases it had enacted since September 2022, and agreed to buy 30 spare CRJ900 engines from Mesa for $80 million to increase Mesa's cash reserves. United received a 10% ownership stake in Mesa and a seat on the Mesa board of directors.
go! in full
go! livery In 2006, Mesa formed go! in the Hawaiian Islands, using five Bombardier CRJ aircraft from its Honolulu hub. It established a
code share with
Mokulele Airlines, which served airports that cannot accept jet aircraft and provide point-to-point service in between the islands with
Cessna Caravan turboprops. The codeshare with Mokulele was later replaced by one with
Island Air, which was itself later replaced by a joint venture with Mokulele dubbed
go! Mokulele. The airline ceased operations in Hawaii on April 1, 2014. Mesa's go! was involved in multiple lawsuits with
Hawaiian Airlines and
Aloha Airlines and was also investigated by the
Federal Aviation Administration for an incident on February 13, 2008, where both pilots fell asleep during a regularly scheduled 36-minute flight between Honolulu and
Hilo. go!'s flight 1002 overshot Hilo Airport by , remaining in the air as they missed the destination. Air traffic controllers were unable to reach the two pilots for 25 minutes, after which contact was re-established and the aircraft returned for a safe landing in Hilo. Mesa's go! was also blamed for the March 31, 2008 shutdown of Aloha Airlines due to "predatory fares".
Kunpeng Airlines Kunpeng Airlines was formed as a joint venture between Mesa Airlines and
Shenzhen Airlines of
China. They began flying in October 2007 with three Bombardier CRJ200 aircraft and currently have five in China . The airline originally expected to operate 20 CRJs prior to the
2008 Summer Olympics in
Beijing and plan to expand at a rate of 20 aircraft per year for the next 5 years. All pilots would have been based in Beijing or
Xi'an and the airline initially was to fly to 16 regional airports. Mesa intended to replace the outgoing CRJ200s with larger regional jets such as the CRJ700 and CRJ900. Kunpeng has recently decided to delay the delivery of CRJ200 in favor of brand new
Embraer 190. All of the Mesa aircraft are being returned. Furthermore, as of June 2009, Mesa no longer has a financial interest in Kunpeng Airlines, as Shenzhen Airlines purchased Mesa's interest in the original joint venture.
Merger with Republic Airways On April 7, 2025,
Republic Airways Holdings announced that it would acquire Mesa in an all-stock merger. Under the terms of the agreement, Republic shareholders will own approximately 88% of the merged company, while Mesa shareholders will retain between 6% and 12%. The merger closed November 25, 2025. Following the merger, the combined company will operate approximately 310 Embraer 170/175 aircraft and more than 1,250 daily departures. Republic will continue operating under agreements with American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines, while Mesa will fly under a 10-year agreement with United. ==Operations==