Regional Carrier Announces Q4 Loss Of $62.2 Million

Mesa Air Group pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, Int'l (ALPA), began expedited negotiations with management last week -- ahead of the airline's announcement Monday of an operating loss of $62.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2007.

ALPA notes that prior to beginning negotiations, union leaders called on the carrier to address pilot staffing and morale issues that have reached critical levels and are negatively impacting Mesa operations.

The union claims over 500 pilots left Mesa last year alone, causing flight delays and cancellations. Many of those pilots left to accept similar pilot positions at other "regional" airlines that offered higher pay, better benefits and/or superior pilot work rules.

"Time is of the essence to turn around our operations, address pilots' considerable concerns and improve the level of service to passengers and codeshare partners," said Captain Michael Jayson, a 14-year employee and chairman of the ALPA unit at Mesa. "After our first week of face-to-face negotiations, we are encouraged by management's willingness to tackle the tough issues and make changes to significantly improve our contract so that our pilots will want to continue to fly for Mesa."

"The Mesa pilots have the full support of our international union and the 60,000 members we represent," said ALPA President Captain John Prater, who met with ALPA leaders this week in Phoenix to support the Mesa pilots' negotiations and discuss bargaining and consolidation issues across the industry. "While we hope that management continues negotiating in good faith, we are fully prepared to use all legal avenues available to ensure that the pilots at Mesa are successful in achieving their goal of a significantly improved contract with better work rules, benefits, and pay."

Mesa flies as Delta Connection, US Airways Express, United Express, go!, and Mesa Airlines. The airline attributed its lackluster Q4 financial performance on a number of factors, including a decrease in capacity. In a release Monday, Mesa also reported a pre-tax charge of $86.9 million related to its recent court loss concerning litigation brought forth by Hawaiian Airlines, concerning Mesa's go! startup.

As ANN reported, a US Bankruptcy Court judge ruled last October Mesa illegally used confidential information obtained from Hawaiian to launch its interisland airline... and ordered the airline to cough up $80 million. Mesa notes that litigation is under appeal.

FMI: www.alpa.org, www.mesa-air.org