Mesa comments on turboprops and 50-seat RJs

Rob

Senior
Aug 19, 2002
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The Mesa earnings conference call had lots of interesting comments by Chairman J Ornstein on the viability of flying turboprops and 50-seat regional jets, for those interested. Basically he likes turboprops but only at used-aircraft prices and sees continuing economic viability in the smaller RJ, as ticket prices creep up.

The call also details Mesa's complicated fleet redeployment plans: into Delta and Hawaii, out of US Airways East, etc.

Interesting listening. And Ornstein isn't the devil - or maybe I should say he doesn't sound like it. :rolleyes:

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?...eventID=1304958
 
The Mesa earnings conference call had lots of interesting comments by Chairman J Ornstein on the viability of flying turboprops and 50-seat regional jets, for those interested. Basically he likes turboprops but only at used-aircraft prices and sees continuing economic viability in the smaller RJ, as ticket prices creep up.

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?...eventID=1304958
I think that the RJ might be good. Turboprops are ok too but he should get RJ's.
 
Speaking of Mesa and regional jets, there was an article yesterday in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about Dallas and Fort Worth trying to work out a compromise over the Love Field Master Plan and the Wright Amendment (a federal law that restricts where mainline jets can fly out of Dallas Love Field.)

Basically, mainline jets are permitted to fly nonstop from Love Field to other cities in TX, AR, LA, OK, and NM. The Shelby Amendment added MS, KS, and AL in 1997. Missouri was added in December 2005.

Through and connecting service to other points outside the perimeter is strictly prohibited, unless the passenger purchases two separate tickets -- one from Love Field to one of the other Wright Amendment cities, and another from the other city to points outside the perimeter. Passengers checking luggage are required to reclaim and recheck their luggage at the intermediate city.

Regional jets containing 56 seats or less are not restricted by the terms of the Wright Amendment.

Link to article

One of the issues being discussed is what to do with Legend's former terminal at Love Field. It was originally designed for Legend's 56 passenger DC-9's, contains six gates and is on the other side of the airport from Love Field's main terminal and the gates all the other airlines use.

I remember reading a long time ago that the terminal's maximum occupancy was about 800 people, so it wouldn't really be suitable for an airline wanting to fly mainline jets from there. But it would make a great little regional jet terminal.

Buried deep in the article was this statement:

The news conference was held at the vacant six-gate terminal built for now-defunct Legend Airlines in the late 1990s on the airport's northeast side, along Lemmon Avenue. The city of Dallas does not own the building. But talk has circulated over the past several months that its demolition could be an issue that both mayors and the airlines have been discussing.

[Dallas Mayor Laura] Miller declined to say whether tearing down the terminal would be part of the final proposal.

"It's all part of what we're discussing, and I just don't want to discuss any details right now," she said.

But Alan Naul, asset manager for Love Terminal Partners, which owns the former Legend terminal, told the Star-Telegram that his company is close to signing a deal to sell the facility to a publicly traded airline.

Naul, who declined to name the carrier, said he hopes to announce a deal sometime in the next couple of weeks.


Someone on another board mentioned a rumor that Mesa was the airline wanting to buy this terminal and in light of Ornstein's comments about regional jets, I thought I'd post here and see what the rest of you think and if anyone has heard any speculation about this.

LoneStarMike
 
Let's see. Mesa could take CR9's and retrofit them with 56 First Class seats (3 across). They could serve gourmet meals and cater to an upscale clientele...oh wait, that was Legend...
 
Speaking of Mesa and regional jets, there was an article yesterday in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about Dallas and Fort Worth trying to work out a compromise over the Love Field Master Plan and the Wright Amendment (a federal law that restricts where mainline jets can fly out of Dallas Love Field.)

[...]

Someone on another board mentioned a rumor that Mesa was the airline wanting to buy this terminal and in light of Ornstein's comments about regional jets, I thought I'd post here and see what the rest of you think and if anyone has heard any speculation about this.

I would've thought that Mesa had already learned its lesson, trying to operate its own RJ flights at a secondary airport in the DFW region. Been there, failed at that, no? :p