Mesa Air Group chairman and CEO Jonathan Ornstein once again embraced the old adage “never say never” when the unpredictable industry veteran recently revived his airline’s association with a pair of estranged partners. Just weeks after reuniting with the Regional Airline Association–a group he once characterized as “total political animals, more concerned with Washington cocktail parties than with making a real difference”–Ornstein scored his own political coup de grâce when he signed a tentative deal with United Airlines to fly de Havilland Dash 8-200s from Denver as United Express.
The new contract will effectively end Mesa’s half-decade hiatus from a relationship that once provided its largest source of revenue. The five-year “revenue guarantee” contract, scheduled for completion this month, will allow Mesa to fly ten 37-seat Dash 8s as United Express from Denver International Airport, where it now flies 50-seat CRJs under a foundering pro-rate deal with Frontier Airlines.
