PHOENIX--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mesa Airlines, Inc. is pleased to announce that the Company’s Maintenance team was awarded the Federal Aviation Administration’s prestigious Employer’s Gold Award for 2011.
The award is based on the percentage of the company’s eligible aviation maintenance technicians (“AMTs”) who complete a minimum amount of initial and recurrent training during the year. Of Mesa’s 221 eligible maintenance professionals, 195 − or 88 percent − received an individual AMT Award for 2011. The award provides maintenance technicians with incentives to improve safety by actively participating in initial and recurring training programs on their own initiative or in training programs subsidized by their employers.
Jonathan Ornstein, Chairman and CEO, said, “We are delighted to be recognized by the FAA for training excellence, and I appreciate the hard work by our maintenance people and training team for continuing to be industry leaders in training and safety programs.” Garry Appling, Senior Vice President of Maintenance & Engineering, added, “Mesa takes great pride in the dedication of our maintenance staff and I applaud our personnel for maximizing the opportunities to benefit from the training resources they have available to them. This dedication is a strong reflection on Mesa's commitment to a Safety First culture.”
Mesa currently operates 77 aircraft with over 390 daily system departures to 92 cities, 35 states, Mexico, Canada and the District of Columbia. Mesa operates as US Airways Express and United Express under contractual agreements with US Airways and United Airlines, respectively, and independently as go!. In June 2006 Mesa launched inter-island Hawai’i service as go! and in October 2009 formed a joint venture with Mokulele Airlines. The go! and Mokulele operations link Honolulu to the neighbor island airports of Hilo, Kona, Kahului, Ho’olehua, Lana’i and Lihu’e, utilizing 5 CRJ-200 aircraft operated by Mesa Airlines and 4 Cessna Grand Caravan aircraft operated by Mokulele Flight Service under a code-sharing agreement. Mesa, founded by Larry and Janie Risley in New Mexico in 1982, has approximately 2,800 employees.