Freedom Airlines

IATA F8 ICAO FRL Callsign FREEDOM AIR
Founded	2002
Hubs	Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport
Fleet size	34
Destinations	~24
Parent company	Mesa Air Group, Inc.
Headquarters	Irving, Texas, USA
Key people	Ryan Gumm (COO)
Website	http://www.mesa-air.com

Freedom Airlines, Inc. is an American FAA Part 121 certificated air carrier operating under air carrier certificate number FDKA087K^[1] issued on April 1, 2002. The Nevada Corporation^[2] is headquartered in Irving, Texas and is a subsidiary of Mesa Air Group.^[3] It operates flights as Delta Connection for Delta Air Lines serving Delta's hub at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in Hebron, KY, near Cincinnati, OH using EMB 145 aircraft. Freedom's base has been moved to Cincinnati from New York City in July 2009. Freedom previously operated the CRJ-900 aircraft as Delta Connection as well, however, this contract has been canceled and all aircraft and orders will be transferred to Eagan, MN-based Mesaba Airlines and Atlanta, GA-based Atlantic Southeast Airlines as well as Pinnacle Airlines.

Contents 1 History 1.1 ERJ-145 Contract 1.2 CRJ-900 Contract 2 Destinations 3 Airline operations 4 Crew Bases 5 Fleet 5.1 Retired fleet 6 References 7 External links

[edit] History

The airline was established in March 2002 and started operations in October 2002. It was the launch customer for the Bombardier CRJ-900. The airline was started so that Mesa Air Group could fulfill its contractual obligations to operate the CRJ-900 as America West Express for America West Airlines. Establishing Freedom was necessary as Mesa Airlines was also operating as US Airways Express under a code share agreement for US Airways. US Airways' collective bargaining agreement with the Air Line Pilots Association prohibited contract carrier code share arrangements with regional jet carriers, if that carrier operated aircraft with more than 70 seats. Mesa Airlines, therefore, could not operate as US Airways Express and operate the CRJ-900.

Initially Freedom operated the Bombardier CRJ-700 and CRJ-900 on behalf of America West Airlines. Once US Airways' pilot scope limitation was relaxed, Mesa transferred the operation of all of Freedom's regional jets to Mesa Airlines. Once this transfer was complete Freedom placed 1 Beech 1900D turboprop on its certificate in order to keep the certificate active. No scheduled flights occurred during this period with the Beech 1900, but it was used as a spare aircraft for Air Midwest aircraft flying out of Phoenix under an America West Express codeshare as well as a spare aircraft for Mesa Airlines' Dash-8-200 aircraft operating under a contract for America West. In October 2005, Freedom Airlines began operations as Delta Connection.

[edit] ERJ-145 Contract

On April 7, 2008, Mesa Air Group, the parent company of Freedom Airlines, entered litigation about contractual obligations with Delta Air Lines.^[4] Delta attempted to terminate the ERJ-145 contract due to supposed failures to meet completion in 3 of the last 6 months. On May 29, 2008, a federal judge blocked Delta from terminating Freedom's regional flying contract which, according to parent company Mesa Air Group would have forced it to file for bankruptcy protection by July 20 and cut 700 jobs or 14 percent of its work force.^[5] Since then, the ERJ-145 fleet has been reduced to 22 operating aircrafts along with 5 spares.

[edit] CRJ-900 Contract

In August 2008, Mesa announced that Delta was terminating Freedom's contract to operate CRJ-900 aircraft. As with the ERJ-145 contract, Mesa alleged that the cancellation was driven by Delta's intention to cut capacity rather than Freedom's failure to meet operational performance standards, as Delta claims.^[6] However, unlike the ERJ-145 contract, Delta's attempt to cancel the contract was successful. The seven CRJ-900s were returned to Delta with no further financial obligation to Mesa. They were being operated by Pinnacle Airlines until they receive the last of their CRJ-900s orders. After that, 5 are operated by Mesaba Airlines. The other 2 are operated by Atlanta based Atlantic Southeast Airlines.^[7]

[edit] Destinations

[edit] Airline operations

Freedom Airlines operates as:

• Delta Connection using Embraer ERJ-145 aircraft under a revenue-guarantee codesharing agreement. Its hub is located at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.

[edit] Crew Bases

Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (KCVG)

[edit] Fleet

The Freedom Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of 30 October 2009)^[8], which are all operated :

Freedom Airlines Fleet

Type	Number	Seats	Orders/Options	Notes
Embraer ERJ-145	34	50	0/64	30 operated as Delta Connection 3 used for dedicated services 1 stored

[edit] Retired fleet

Freedom Airlines Retired fleet

Aircraft	Year Retired	Replacement	Notes
Dash 8-100	2007	Embraer ERJ-145	Acquired in 2006 for Delta Connection flights at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport
Bombardier CRJ900	2008	n/a	Leased from Delta for $1/month each

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Mesa Air Group Website

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