The Mesa Air Group, Inc. reported its second quarter 2019 financial and operating results, which saw the carrier achieve a net income of $13.2 million, pre-tax income of $17.3 million compared to $3.0 million last April.
Mesa operated 112,030 block hours during Q2 2019, an increase of 14.5% from Q2 2018 of 97,853. Operationally, we ran a 99.6% controllable completion factor and a 97.4% total completion factor, which includes weather and other uncontrollable cancellations.
“We continue to execute our plan of increased block hours, which contributed to our nearly six-fold increase in pre-tax earnings year-over-year,” stated Jonathan Ornstein, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “We continue to make significant investments primarily in pilot training and our maintenance capabilities.”
Mike Lotz, President and Chief Financial Officer, continued, “Our Q2 year to date diluted EPS of $0.92 and adjusted diluted EPS1 of $1.00 is consistent with our plan. The decrease in diluted EPS for Q2 versus Q1 is primarily driven by the timing of heavy maintenance events. During the Quarter we finalized our purchase agreement with GECAS for ten (10) leased CRJ-700 aircraft currently operating at United and expect to finalize the financing this quarter. Upon completion of the transaction, we will have reduced the number of leased aircraft with third parties to 18."
“I am delighted to have joined Mesa and believe the company has positioned itself to be a leading U.S. regional airline, given its cost structure and improving operational performance, as evidenced by our improvement in controllable completion factor from 98.8% in Q2 2018 to 99.6% in Q2 2019,” said Brad Rich, Mesa’s recently appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Rich previously served as Senior Vice President of United Express Operations for United Airlines and prior to that was President of SkyWest, Inc. “I look forward to working with our partners at United and American.”
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