PHOENIX, Nov. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Mesa Air Group today announced new service from three Illinois communities with service to Chicago Midway. The service to Decatur, Marion, and Quincy will provide daily flights connecting each market to Chicago. The service will be operated by Mesa's wholly owned subsidiary Air Midwest and will be operated under its independent brand, Mesa Airlines. The service will commence in early February 2007.

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The flights are made possible through the Illinois "I-Fly" program. The "I-Fly" program was conceived by Illinois Legislators to provide enhanced intra-state air service to Illinois communities. This program will provide a minimum level of revenue to help reduce the inherent risks of starting new service.

"We would like to thank the Illinois Department of Transportation, Governor Blagojevich, and the Illinois General Assembly for creating this program to bring service from downstate Illinois to Chicago," says Greg Stephens, President of Air Midwest. "This new service will help connect each community with the economic center of Illinois and the national transportation system."

The schedule and fares will be announced over the next few weeks. The new service will be provided on Mesa's Raytheon/Beechcraft B-1900D twin-turboprop airliners. These aircraft feature a standup cabin, 19 seats and 1 & 1 seating, where each seat is a window and an aisle. These new flights will continue to build upon Mesa's commitment to providing reliable, cost effective air service to small communities throughout the country.

"We have been working with all three communities to bring back service to Chicago," says Jeffrey Hartz, Manager of Essential Air Service for Mesa Air Group. "We are very excited about this partnership with the state and each community."

Mesa currently operates 192 aircraft with over 1,200 daily system departures to 173 cities, 43 states, the District of Columbia, Canada, Mexico and the Bahamas. Mesa operates as US Airways Express, Delta Connection and United Express under contractual agreement with US Airways, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, respectively, and independently as Mesa Airlines and go!. On June 9, 2006 Mesa launched inter-island Hawaii service as go!. This new operation links Honolulu to the neighbor island airports of Lihue, Kahului, Kona, and Hilo. The Company, founded by Larry and Janie Risley in New Mexico in 1982, has approximately 5,000 employees. Mesa is a member of the Regional Airline Association and Regional Aviation Partners. The Company was named 2005 Regional Airline of the Year by Air Transport World Magazine. For more information please visit http://www.iflygo.com/ or http://www.mesa-air.com/

CONTACT: Jeffrey Hartz of Mesa Air Group, +1-602-685-4186,
Jeffrey.Hartz@mesa-air.com

Web site: http://www.mesa-air.com/