After a less than three-year stint in the United Express fleet, Mesa Airlines’ CRJ-900s have officially ended revenue service, at least for now. Back in October, the regional carrier said it would phase out the CRJ fleet “at United’s request.”
United reimbursed costs up to $14 million associated with the fleet transition, Mesa said in a news release. The Phoenix-based airline operated its last scheduled CRJ-900 flight on Feb. 28, in line with previously disclosed plans.
A spokesperson from United confirmed to AirlineGeeks that the CRJ-900 will no longer operate within the airline’s regional network. Instead, Mesa will only operate Embraer E175s for United.
The aircraft – which have an average age of 19 years old – joined United’s network in 2023 after American terminated its agreement with Mesa. Some of the jets have a long history, operating under the America West, US Airways, and American brands.
Mesa sold a handful of its CRJ-900s last year. In 2023, American acquired around seven ex-Mesa CRJ-900s, which now operate for its regional subsidiary PSA Airlines.
PSA is set to add more CRJ-900s to its fleet this year, presumably from Mesa.
Currently, Mesa flies around 60 E175s under the United Express banner. Last year, 20 United-owned E175s were transitioned from Mesa to SkyWest.
With the CRJ-900’s exit, the United Express fleet now consists of Embraer E145XRs, E170s, E175s, CRJ-200s, CRJ-550s, and CRJ-700s.
