Mesaba Considering Bankruptcy Filing

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Northwest Airlines Corp. 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 into small cities under the Northwest Airlink name. 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.''

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

Nasdaq Stock Market trading in MAIR was halted on Friday morning.