Mesa Airlines is planning to furlough 53 of its pilots because of the unexpected decrease in flight crew attrition rates at the company. According to Airline Geeks, who first reported the story, the carrier notified junior first officers in an email.
The Phoenix Sky Harbor-based regional carrier had earlier instituted major pay raises as a way to improve pilot retention. As noted in the Mesa Airlines 2023 Annual Report, an agreement with the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) in August 2022 provided nearly 118% increases in hourly pay for captains and 172% raises for new-hire first officers. These actions significantly helped the carrier’s pilot hiring and retention in the fiscal year 2023, with attrition levels returning to pre-COVID rates.
As of the last annual report, Mesa Airlines had approximately 2,303 employees, of whom 807 were pilots and pilot recruits. The airline argues that the qualification requirements set by the US Federal Aviation Administration have lately pushed up Pilot salaries and sign-on bonuses, increasing pilot shortage and, therefore labor costs.
Mesa Airlines currently flies only for United Airlines, which introduces great uncertainty into its future. The company has openly admitted that there are no assurances that United will continue to work with or renew their agreement—adding that any such decision by United would have a material adverse effect on Mesa’s financial performance.
Recent events have already hit Mesa’s operations hard. In April 2023, the carrier ceased its American Eagle partnership with American Airlines. More recently, in March 2024, Mesa suspended its cargo operations for DHL Express.
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According to the ch-aviation fleets module, Mesa operates 122 aircraft. The current fleet includes two inactive Boeing 737-400(SF)s, fifty Bombardier CRJ900s, and seventy Embraer E175s.
This story will be updated as this situation continues to unfold. Comment on the intended furloughs and exactly what this might mean for operations sooner rather than later has been sought from Mesa Airlines and ALPA.