Mesa Air cuts 250 jobs, including 150 pilots

Mesa Air Group Inc., the regional carrier that operates flights for bigger airlines, cut 250 jobs including pilots partly because of a terminated contract with Delta Air Lines Inc.

About 100 of the positions were at the corporate level, and 150 were pilots, most of whom flew jets for Delta, said Brian Gillman, general counsel for Phoenix-based Mesa. No further job reductions are planned, Gillman said.

The cuts, 6.1 percent of Mesa's work force, are related to an agreement under which Mesa's Freedom Airlines unit operated CRJ-900 jets for Delta, Gillman said. Mesa had seven of the 76- seat jets in service, and planned to add seven more next year. The two companies are in a legal dispute over a different accord that covers about a fifth of Mesa's fleet.

Delta said in August that the flights on the CRJ-900 jets didn't meet its performance standards, which Mesa disputed.

The companies are in a legal battle over Delta's plans to end a contract for flying 34 smaller ERJ-145 aircraft. A federal judge in Atlanta has ruled that Delta can't terminate the contract, and Delta is appealing that decision.