From the Cockpit with Mesa Airlines’ Ornstein

Phoenix-headquartered Mesa Airlines became the only U.S. regional airline with 737s in its fleet when DHL Express in late 2020 assigned two of its 737-400SFs to the carrier for CMI operation. Since then, Mesa has proceeded to lease a freshly converted 737-400SF of its own to supplement the DHL operation and has even hinted at further expansion of its cargo business. Cargo Facts caught up with CEO Jonathan Ornstein to discuss Mesa’s freighter operations and growth strategy, as well as some of its challenges along the way. What follows is an edited version of the conversation. [caption id="attachment_56859742" align="alignright" width="500"] Mesa Airlines CEO Jonathan Ornstein. (Photo/Mesa Airlines)[/caption] Cargo Facts : How are operations going with the two CMI -400s? Jonathan Ornstein: We started flying them in late 2020, and last year we operated well considering we did not have a spare. We recently had one of them go through a C-check and, like everything, it was affected by some delays in the supply chain. I’m not sure what we could have done differently; once the aircraft is in the hands of the MRO provider the process is mostly out of our control. I think slot availability at MRO facilities is improving somewhat, but we learned a lot of lessons about C-check management. CF : Tell us about the 737-400SF that you added on dry lease earlier this year. JO: Our third 737 presented us with some difficulties and challenges. It was stuck in C-check and conversion, and it took far longer to get the aircraft conformed and put onto our certificate than we had anticipated. That’s partly why the growth of our cargo business has been a bit slower than expected. When I was with Virgin Express in Europe thirty years ago, we were already flying 737 Classics and they were very reliable aircraft. They’re still good freighters now but they’re obviously older now. The reason for why and how the third aircraft came about was that we put a tremendous amount of value on our relationship with DHL. One of our board members, Dan McHugh, was the CEO of Southern Air and before that had also been with DHL Express. I was also on the board of Southern. We initially planned to add this aircraft solely as a spare or partial spare at our own expense, but we’re now flying this aircraft in the DHL network. CF : How much of a hindrance to your growth is the pilot shortage? JO: When we went into our cargo program, we had over 1,000 pilots. The pay to fly the 737s was significantly higher than on our CRJs. This is no longer the case, and we now offer the highest pilot pay scale of regional airlines for pilots to fly our regional jets. Our most senior pilots are bidding to fly the 737, but I would say that there is still an overall shortage of pilots because there aren’t enough people to fill the seats. CF : Do you expect to add more 737 freighters to your operation? JO: We would love to expand with more 737s — and potentially with newer versions. It depends on our customers, but I think the preferable route would be to operate newer aircraft like the -800 in CMI service. There are carriers that have added aircraft for ACMI and ad hoc charter services. I think if the pilot situation were different we might consider differently, but we would prefer opportunities where we can have aircraft secured under a contract. We’re just not in a position to speculate right now. CF : Where do you see your cargo business heading in the longer term? JO: We knew that if we were going to get into cargo, we were going to make it a significant part of our business. Right now, cargo accounts for 1.5%-2% of our revenue. We’d love for it to be at around one-third. Apart from 737s, could we look at ATR 72s or CRJ freighters? We could, but with the pilot issues, we’re having difficulty filling the right seat in an E175, so I can’t imagine how to do that on an ATR with economically viable rates. What will the market actually bear? I’m optimistic that in the long run there is a fix. As for potentially larger aircraft, we shouldn’t rule that out and will keep an open mind. A few of us on the management team have been working together since the 1980s and 1990s, and we all agree that Mesa as a company will always take a long-term view. This Q&A originally appeared in the September 2022 issue of Cargo Facts. Cargo Facts Symposium, taking place LIVE Oct. 19-21 at the InterContinental San Diego, is the essential event for stakeholders in the air cargo industry. Learn more and register today .

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