Order 02-3-3

Order 02-3-3

Freedom Airlines, Inc.

Order 02-3-03 OST-01-11206	Issued March 6, 2002 Served March 6, 2002	Order to Show Cause Proposing Issuance of Certificate Authority	Scheduled Interstate Air Transportation
		Attachment: Terms, Conditions, and Limitations
		Service List

Freedom Airlines was organized as a corporation under the laws of the State of Nevada on December 3, 2001, by Mesa Air Group, Inc. (Group), the parent company of Mesa Airlines, Inc., Air Midwest, Inc., and CCAir, Inc., all certificated air carriers.³ Group formed Freedom Airlines for the purpose of operating as an America West code share partner utilizing 64-seat Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ) 700 and 80-seat CRJ-900 aircraft currently on order for Mesa. While Mesa will continue various operations it currently conducts on behalf of America West and US Airways,⁴ it will assign the regional jet flights it operates on behalf of America West to Freedom Airlines.

If granted the certificate authority it seeks, Freedom Airlines will commence regional jet operations operated on behalf of America West under a code share arrangement. Under this arrangement, Freedom Airlines will be responsible for all aircraft operations, while America West will handle all marketing and passenger ticketing matters such as the collection of passenger funds and the processing of all refunds. America West will compensate Freedom Airlines for its services without regard to the number of passengers carried. That is, America West will purchase from Freedom Airlines all of the available seat miles and is assuming the financial burden for any shortfall in passenger and other revenue. Freedom Airlines forecasts that it will operate a total of nine 64-seat CRJ-700s and two 80-seat CRJ-900s by the end of its first year of actual flight operations under the of America West arrangement, flying a total of 15,605 aircraft block hours. The applicant expects to expand these operations during its second year of operations to include an additional 11 CRJ-700s and 13 CRJ-900s.

Mesa presently operates over 70 regional jet and turboprop aircraft in scheduled service under the trade names "America West Express," "USAirways Express," and "Frontier JetExpress." In addition, Mesa operates, or will soon operate, other aircraft in partnership with Midwest Express. Further, Air Midwest and CCAir also conduct operations as "USAirways Express." In total, Mesa and its sister companies currently operate approximately 116 aircraft.

By: Read Van de Water