Mesaba is Considering Bankruptcy Filing

Northwest Airlines Corp.'s regional carrier Mesaba Aviation Inc. is considering filing for bankruptcy protection because of sharp reductions in its schedule, according to a regulatory filing by its parent company on Friday.

Mesaba flies under the Northwest Airlink name, picking up passengers in small cities and funneling them into Northwest's hubs. It gets its schedule, passengers, planes and revenue from Northwest, which filed for Chapter 11 protection on Sept. 14. Northwest has said it will shed unprofitable routes.

"Mesaba is focused on reducing all areas of its cost structure, but will incur substantial losses in the third and fourth fiscal quarters," Mesaba parent MAIR Holdings Inc. said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. "Mesaba is considering all options available to it, including a court supervised restructuring under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code."

Northwest has told Mesaba it will remove 10 Saab B+ aircraft on Jan. 4, and that it probably won't be able to deliver 13 more Canadair Regional Jets on time, according to the filing. Northwest also intends to take away Mesaba's 35 Avro Regional Jets; nine of them were already planned to come out of service on Oct. 31.

Mesaba is MAIR's largest business, although it also runs Big Sky Transportation Co., a Billings, Mont.-based regional airline.

MAIR shares dropped a penny to $5.25 in morning trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market. They traded around at $9.50 last month before Northwest filed for bankruptcy protection.

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On the Net:

MAIR Holdings Inc.: http://www.mairholdings.com/

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