issues . please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . learn how and when to remove these template messages this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . september 2014 learn how and when to remove this template message this article needs to be updated . please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information . september 2009 learn how and when to remove this template message mesa air group type private industry aviation founded 1980 headquarters phoenix arizona united states key people jonathan g. ornstein chairman & ceo michael j. lotz president & cfo paul f. foley executive vice president & coo brian gillman executive vice president general counsel and secretary revenue 1.4 billion usd 2007 number of employees 2 500 2011 website www.mesa air.com mesa air group inc. is a nevada corporation 1 commercial aviation holding company with headquarters in suite 700 at 410 north 44th street in the camelback east area of phoenix arizona united states . 2 the company operates one regional airline subsidiary mesa airlines which operates as american eagle us airways express and united express under contractual agreements with american airlines and united airlines respectively . as of april 2015 mesa operates 97 aircraft with approximately 420 daily system departures to 94 cities 38 states the district of columbia and mexico . the company founded in farmington nm in 1980 and purchased by larry and janie risley in 1982 has approximately 2 500 employees . in terms of revenue mesa air group at one point would be considered a major airline carrier as it has over 1 billion annual revenue earnings however it does not qualify for major status because its aircraft seat fewer than 100 people . at its peak during september 2007 mesa air group operated 201 aircraft . on january 5 2010 mesa air group filed for bankruptcy . 3 the company emerged from bankruptcy on march 1 2011 . 4 contents 1 subsidiaries 1.1 airlines 1.2 former airlines and subsidiaries 2 history 2.1 acquisitions and mergers 2.2 reorganization 2.3 difficulties and loss of the united codeshare 2.4 turnaround 2.5 hawaiian market entrance and related lawsuits 2.6 mokulele acquisition 2.7 bankruptcy filing 2.8 mokulele divestiture 3 labor groups 4 mesa angels foundation 5 references 6 external links subsidiaries edit airlines edit mesa airlines inc. former airlines and subsidiaries edit air midwest freedom airlines inc. calpac california pacific ccair desert sun airlines floridagulf airlines go liberty express airlines mountain west airlines skyway airlines superior airlines westair holdings inc. and westair commuter airlines desert turbine services four corners aviation mesa leasing inc. san juan pilot training history edit mesa began in 1980 when jb aviation a fixed base operator at the four corners regional airport in farmington new mexico established a charter flight department and mesa air shuttle with scheduled commuter airline service from farmington to albuquerque nm using a five seat single engine piper saratoga aircraft . a nine seat piper navajo was later added for new service from farmington to denver . in late 1981 the denver flights were discontinued and a new route from farmington to grand junction co and vernal ut was briefly added . in 1982 using 140 000 in capital larry risley an a & p mechanic with jb aviation and his wife janie 5 purchased the airline and by mid 1983 acquired its first 14 seat beechcraft 99 airliner . new service from albuquerque to durango co began with the arrival of the second beech 99 later that year . more beech 99 s were acquired and the company continued to expand from albuquerque to other cities throughout new mexico as well as lubbock tx . during its first few years mesa found itself in a very competitive environment . six other carriers competed against mesa air midwest sun west airlines pioneer airlines trans colorado airlines airways of new mexico and jetaire . as fare wars erupted between the carriers mesa was able to survive due to its low cost structure . it performed maintenance in house many of mesa s employees performed multiple duties pilots and mechanics doubled as gate agents and ramp agents . in 1984 the civil aeronautics board awarded mesa its first essential air service eas contract to serve roswell hobbs and carlsbad winning the contract from air midwest . a second round of eas bidding resulted in mesa winning contracts to serve silver city alamogordo las cruces clovis and gallup . by late 1985 mesa acquired its first beechcraft 1900 turboprop and began the first scheduled air service to telluride co as that aircraft had the performance to serve the cities airport which sits at more than 9000 feet above sea level . service was also added to high altitude angel fire nm a year later . by 1987 mesa had grown from six employees in 1982 to 187 employees from a single piper saratoga in 1980 to one piper chieftain and three beechcraft 99s in 1984 to five beechcraft 99 and four beechcraft 1900 turboprops . of the six competing air carriers none remained to challenge mesa in new mexico by the end of 1987 . the airline had built up its albuquerque hub to 45 departures per day serving 17 cities and providing hourly service to farmington . 6 mesa continued to grow in 1987 . it listed on nasdaq mesa with an initial public offering of 865 000 shares of stock at 7.50 . while it was now operating to all the primary cities in new mexico it then expanded outside of the state by acquiring routes in wyoming utah and colorado from centennial airlines as well as adding nonstop flights from roswell nm to dallas fort worth tx . mesa then acquired a pair of 9 seat cessna caravans to serve even smaller cities in new mexico and established new routes from albuquerque to taos and ruidoso . to provide a pool of trained qualified pilots in 1989 mesa established an ab initio flight training program with san juan college a local community college . by the end of the 1980s mesa poised itself for future growth and expansion . acquisitions and mergers edit this section does not cite any sources . please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . september 2014 learn how and when to remove this template message starting in 1989 mesa embarked on a series of acquisitions and mergers over the next six years that would known by the airline industry watchers as mesa s a deal a year growth . in february 1989 mesa negotiated its first codeshare agreement with midwest express and established skyway airlines in milwaukee . in july 1989 stateswest airlines attempted to take over mesa by making an offer to purchase all of the common operating stock of mesa which was rejected . in february 1990 mesa acquired aspen airways united express denver hub routes and assets and negotiated a codeshare agreement with united airlines . using these newly acquired routes mesa set up a denver hub flying as united express . aspen airways bae 146 and convair 580 aircraft and its denver aspen route were sold to air wisconsin . mesa had many changes in 1991 ; acquiring air midwest its kansas city hub and a codeshare agreement with usair express in july starting floridagulf airlines serving florida south carolina georgia alabama arkansas and louisiana from its tampa hub under a usair express codeshare in december . it was also in talks to acquire westair commuter airlines . in 1992 mesa completed acquisition of westair commuter airlines and its hubs in san francisco los angeles portland and seattle as well as its united codeshare . in october 1992 mesa negotiated a codeshare agreement with america west for its phoenix hub to be operated as america west express . in 1993 mesa s codeshare with midwest express expired . midwest express kept the name skyway for its future regional of the same name . using the aircraft from the former skyway operation mesa established superior airlines with a columbus hub operating as america west express . mesa created calpac california pacific with a los angeles hub operating as united express . both superior and calpac were short lived operations with both airlines being folded back into mesa airlines united express operations . in 1994 mesa acquired pittsburgh based crown airways . using the assets from crown airways mesa set up liberty express airlines with a pittsburgh hub operating as usair express . in march 1995 mesa took delivery of its first two regional jets the fokker f70 which is a smaller version of the fokker f100 jetliner . mesa created desert sun airlines and operated the two jets from a phoenix hub to des moines and spokane as america west express . reorganization edit this section does not cite any sources . please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . september 2014 learn how and when to remove this template message as mesa acquired air carriers or expanded by creating new airlines it grew in a seemingly haphazard manner . from 1989 through 1995 mesa had grown from one airline with hubs in albuquerque denver and phoenix to six separate airlines with hubs throughout the country though it had as many as eight airlines prior to 1995 . 7 rather than integrating each new acquisition and airline into one integrated company mesa continued operating each individual airline independently with separate labor groups separate flight maintenance and marketing operations and separate codeshare agreements . this resulted in an unwieldy corporate structure . in 1992 mesa created mesa holdings corp to manage the existing mesa airlines and its acquisitions . it resulted in the following subsidiaries air midwest kansas city mesa airlines america west express phoenix floridagulf airlines tampa mesa airlines albuquerque united express denver skyway airlines milwaukee westair commuter airlines los angeles san francisco portland and seattle san juan pilot training forerunner to mesa pilot development desert turbine services in 1995 mesa holdings corp was renamed mesa air group and mesa airlines was renamed mountain west airlines . mesa air group now consisted of the following six airlines and subsidiaries air midwest kansas city usair express desert sun airlines phoenix america west express floridagulf airlines tampa orlando new orleans boston philadelphia usair express liberty express airlines pittsburgh usair express mountain west airlines operating as mesa airlines albuquerque united express denver los angeles former calpac portland seattle america west express phoenix westair commuter airlines los angeles san francisco portland seattle united express desert turbine services four corners aviation mesa pilot development regional aircraft services in 1996 further company reorganization consolidated the separate flight dispatch functions of desert sun floridagulf and mountain west airlines into one location in farmington . all flight training facilities and human resources were centralized in fort worth . since the mergers had created a diverse mix of aircraft types mesa proceeded to simplify the number of aircraft types operated from six short 360 british aerospace bae jetstream 31 embraer emb 120 brasilia beechcraft 1900 de havilland canada dhc 8 dash 8 fokker f70 to three b1900 dash 8 canadair crj . mesa relocated aircraft to place all airplanes of the same type in a base with the jetstreams and brasilias flying in the west 1900s flying elsewhere . this also allowed the consolidation of maintenance facilities since the facilities no longer needed to service all the different types of aircraft mesa operated . to replace the fokker aircraft mesa signed an agreement with bombardier to purchase 16 canadair regional jets crj with options for 32 more . the six pilot groups had voted to unionize in 1994 . in 1996 the pilot groups of the