Regionals Busy Closing Year-End Deals

Both Mesa and Pinnacle have been busy closing year-end deals in China and with Northwest, respectively, with Mesa set to become the first U.S. airline to operate an airline within China, the world's fastest-growing air market.
For Pinnacle, the best thing that came out of its new, 10-year deal with Northwest was the elimination of the restriction against it creating regional feeder services for other airlines and the settlement of its bankruptcy charge against its major partner to the tune of $337.5 million. The only exception to the release from its restrictions is exclusivity for Northwest at its Minneapolis, Memphis and Detroit hubs. Once approved, the agreement becomes effective January 1, 2007. 
After two years of nosing around the world’s fastest growing aviation market, Mesa finally announced a joint venture with Shenzhen Airlines to create a Chinese regional airline that is expected to be launched within 12 months. The new airline will initially operate 50-seat regional jets on domestic routes within the People's Republic of China. Focus cities for the new services will include Shenzhen, Beijing, Chongqing, Xiamen, Nanjing, Kunming, Dalian, Shenyang, Xian, Zhengzhou and Nanning. China currently has just 70 regional jets in operation, flying for seven different carriers, meaning stiff competition from the fledgling carrier, especially from the nation’s top three carriers. Even so, China’s second tier markets remain vastly underserved. The new carrier, Beijing Airlines, expects to have 20 50-seat regional jets in service prior to the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008, growing to more than 100 planes within five years, comprising a mix of 50-, 70- and 90-seat regional jet aircraft. Mesa expects to initially locate available aircraft, provide maintenance, training and start-up expertise.