Mesa Airlines (YV, Phoenix Sky Harbor) said in its quarterly report that it has delayed the launch of E175 operations on behalf of United Airlines (UA, Chicago O'Hare) but will retain the CRJ700s operated for the carrier for the transition period.
"The twenty new E175s for United, initially planned to be delivered starting this month [May 2020], have been delayed until late 2020 and early 2021. The Mesa CRJ700 fleet of twenty aircraft that were planned to be removed will stay in the United CPA until the new E175s are delivered and are scheduled to be leased to another United Express carrier," the regional capacity provider said.
Following the transfer to another United Express operator, the twenty CRJ700s will be reconfigured into 50-seater CRJ550s. However, Chief Executive Jonathan Ornstein said that Mesa Airlines was also contemplating keeping these aircraft in-house following conversion.
"We will clearly stand ready to continue to operate those aircraft in any configuration United wants," he said.
The deliveries of the twenty new E175s were originally scheduled to run through the end of 2020.
Mesa Airlines currently operates sixty E175s and twenty CRJ700s for United. Of these, the regional airline owns eighteen units of each type, the ch-aviation fleets ownership module shows.
The airline also operates sixty-three CRJ900s for American Airlines (AA, Dallas/Fort Worth).
"Assuming no extension, 49 of the 56 aircraft expire over 23 months, beginning in January of 2021. The remaining seven aircraft do not expire until 2025," Chief Operating Officer Brad Rich said during a quarterly earnings call.
