go! (Hawaii) (Honolulu) will be shut down with effect from April 1 the airline's parent Mesa Air Group, Inc., has announced. In a statement, Mesa Airlines (YV, Phoenix Sky Harbor) said the decision to cease its Hawaiian operations follows growth in its mainland USA flight operations and was a strategic decision to focus on maximizing its growth in the capacity purchase “codeshare” operations.
“While this was an extremely difficult decision to reach, we believe it is in the best interest of Mesa’s long term strategic objectives, particularly given the company’s ongoing expansion of aircraft in service with United Airlines (UA, Chicago O'Hare) and US Airways (Phoenix Sky Harbor). Mesa will be placing into service thirty E175 aircraft with United beginning in June 2014, and is adding 4 CRJ900 aircraft with US Airways (Phoenix Sky Harbor) in 2014, having added 9 CRJ-900s in 2013,” said Jonathan Ornstein, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “With the significant expansion opportunities in flying large regional jets in contracted service, we are re-deploying the go! aircraft to support our existing mainland operations."
Ornstein added that the long term increase in the cost of fuel, which has more than doubled since go! began service, had also taken its toll.
Founded by Larry and Janie Risley in New Mexico in 1982, Mesa currently operates 71 aircraft with approximately 407 daily system departures to 85 cities, in 36 states, the District of Columbia, Canada and Mexico. It operates as US Airways Express and United Express under contractual agreements with US Airways and United Airlines, respectively.
