Mesa Airlines Takes Delivery of First of 30 Embraer E175s for Its United Express Fleet

PHOENIX--(BUSINESS WIRE)-Mesa Air Group, Inc. recently took delivery of its first Embraer E175 at a celebratory event at Embraer’s headquarters in São José dos Campos, Brazil. The aircraft is the first of 30 on order by United to incorporate into Mesa’s growing United Express fleet. Employees from United Airlines, Mesa and Embraer celebrated the inaugural flight together.

Mesa currently operates as United Express from hubs in Washington Dulles and Chicago O’Hare with a fleet of 20 Bombardier CRJ-700 regional aircraft. The first E-175s will enter service in June 2014 and are configured in the United Express dual class 76-seat layout.

At United, we are focused on modernizing our fleet, and we look forward to introducing the E175 to our United Express service. Compared to the 50-seat aircraft we are replacing, these aircraft provide a superior customer experience and are more fuel efficient,” said Jim Compton, United’s vice chairman and chief revenue officer.

 The delivery encompassed four flights: the first from São José dos Campos in southern Brazil to the northern Brazil city of Manaus. From Manaus, the aircraft was flown to Panama City, Panama and then to Houston, TX. The E175 arrived in Phoenix, Mesa’s headquarters city, on Thursday, April 3.