You would be able to write a whole book about Mesa Airlines as it has such a large amount of history behind it. And of course, like every new or established airline, they had to work hard to grow and create new operations. Things really changed for Mesa Airlines after the September 11 attacks on NY, as they decided to seize control of their future. By the end of 2001 the airline was making profit every quarter and they have done ever since, despite a quick spell of bankruptcy to cut costs. The leadership of the company has been outstanding and they really have earned their praise. When you read about Mesa Airlines, you will find that name used synonymously with the Mesa Group, even though Mesa Airlines is an actual airline and they are related. Only recently this year did the Mesa Group come out of bankruptcy, however they are now ready to continue their operations. They went into bankruptcy in order to cut down on the size of their fleet, as well as trim their debts. However the interesting thing is that the bankruptcy proceedings only took 3 months. This is most likely the shortest amount of time any airline has ever been in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy court. For nearly 10 years there were at least 8 airliners as part of the Mesa Airlines group. Deals on code share were cleverly done between Mesa and other airlines. A code share is a legally binding agreement where two airlines agree to assist each other when one needs the others help with picking up passengers. Of course there are revenue splits when this occurs. A lot of the time code sharing leads to acquisitions and mergers between airlines. After two years from initially entering the business, Mesa Airlines decided to agree to their first code share. The secondary transport services are even more complicated when you try to figure out the unifications and the code shares. This is the usual practice in the aviation trade. America West Airlines, an airline associated with Mesa, joined up with US Airways in 2005. But Mesa is still heavily involved since they are still under a code share agreement with the US Airways Group. Given the other code share pact, Mesa is still involved as US Airways Express. The net result allows Mesa to retain destinations and profitable regional carrier operations. The Mesa Airlines story is often similar to most airlines that have come from very humble origins. As you most likely know, building an airline and taking it to new heights requires plenty of time. The profit margins of airlines are often much lower than most businesses would expect. The people behind creating airlines already know of and accept these rules before they take up this sort of task. Mesa's history reflects how any business has to respond to economic challenges and work with available industry resources to sustain profitability and expand.