Loading

Mesa Air Group Receives Court Approval of First Day Motions

Direct News Source

PHOENIX, Jan 07, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- MESA AIR GROUP, INC. (the "Company"), (Nasdaq:MESA), today announced that it received approval of all critical motions at its "first-day" hearing in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York (the "Court") presided over by the Honorable Judge Martin Glenn. Requests included covering its obligations to employees, suppliers and customers, business operations, tax matters, cash management, fuel procurement, and case management.

To ensure the Company continues to operate without interruption, the Court has approved all requests which include important motions such as the Company's requests to continue to use its current cash management systems which will support the other approved requests including the continuation of existing employee salary and benefit programs, payment of pre-petition amounts to certain critical vendors, ongoing payments to vendors and suppliers, and the continuation of all go! Mokulele customer programs.

"The approval of our first day motions allows us to continue to focus on our restructuring efforts," said Jonathan Ornstein Chairman and Chief Executive of Mesa. "Our hope is to move through this process in a timely manner and this first success is the foundation upon which we will build as we eliminate excess aircraft to better match our needs and give us the flexibility to align our business to the changing regional airline marketplace."

Mesa Air Group filed voluntary petitions to reorganize under Chapter 11 of the U.S Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York on January 5, 2010. The case number is 10-10018 and is being presided over by the Honorable Judge Martin Glenn. Interested parties can find updates and additional information at the Company's website at http://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mesa-air.com%2Frestructuring&esheet=6135371&lan=en_US&anchor=www.mesa-air.com%2Frestructuring&index=1&md5=91824dec15af16638e4c70d7fd6edac5. Imperial Capital is serving as financial advisor, and Pachulski, Stang, Ziehl & Jones LLP is serving as legal counsel to the Company and its subsidiaries in connection with the restructuring.

Mesa currently operates 130 aircraft with approximately 700 daily system departures to 127 cities, 41 states, Canada, and Mexico. Mesa operates as Delta Connection, US Airways Express and United Express under contractual agreements with Delta Air Lines, US Airways and United Airlines, respectively, and independently as Mesa Airlines and go! Mokulele. This operation links Honolulu to the neighbor island airports of Hilo, Kahului, Kona and Lihue. The Company, founded by Larry and Janie Risley in New Mexico in 1982, has approximately 3,500 employees.

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995:

Statements contained in this press release that are not historical facts may be forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could result in actual results differing materially from expected results and represent the Company's expectations and beliefs concerning future events based on information available to the Company as of the date of this press release. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this press release. Additional information regarding risk factors that may affect future performance at the Company are contained in the Company's SEC filing, including without limitation the Company's Form 10-K for its fiscal year ended September 30, 2009.