On-Site Drug Testing Mesa, ID

Local Area Info: Mesa Airlines

Mesa Airlines, Inc. is an American regional airline based in Phoenix, Arizona. It is an FAA Part 121-certificated air carrier operating under air carrier certificate number MASA036A issued on June 29, 1979. It is a subsidiary of Mesa Air Group and operates flights as American Eagle and United Express via respective code sharing agreements with American Airlines and United Airlines. It serves more than 180 markets in the Western Hemisphere. In a 1997 article from the Journal of Air Transportation, Mesa's safety record was noted as having the fewest incidents among domestic regional airlines At that time. Mesa filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January 2010, hoping to shed financial obligations for leases on airplanes it no longer needed, and emerged from bankruptcy in March of 2011. Since 2013, Mesa has added more aircraft to its fleet than any other regional airline. In November 2017, Mesa opened a new training center in Phoenix. The 23,000-square-foot facility features a full-size CRJ-200 cabin trainer aircraft, 14 classrooms, and has the capacity to train 300 crew members at one time.

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.

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 original 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 Risley's quickly expanded the carrier by acquiring a fleet of 14-passenger seat Beechcraft 99 commuter turboprops and adding service throughout New Mexico and surrounding states with a hub at Albuquerque. In 1985 larger 19-passenger seat Beechcraft 1900's were acquired which replaced the Beech 99's 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 code share 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.