Mesa Airlines, Inc. announced that the Company’s Maintenance team was awarded the Federal Aviation Administration’s prestigious Employer’s Diamond Award for 2013.

The award is based on participation of 100% of the company’s eligible aviation maintenance technicians (“AMTs”) completing a specified amount of initial and recurrent training during the year. Of Mesa’s 237 eligible maintenance professionals, 237 or 100 percent fulfilled the additional training requirements to meet the reward criteria for 2013. This is the second consecutive year that Mesa has earned this distinction. The award provides maintenance technicians with incentives to improve safety by actively participating in initial and recurring training programs on their own initiative or in training programs subsidized by their employers.

Jonathan Ornstein, Chairman and CEO, said, “We are delighted to be recognized by the FAA for training excellence, and we greatly appreciate the hard work of our maintenance people and training team for continuing to be industry leaders in safety and reliability programs.”

Gary Appling, Senior Vice President of Maintenance & Engineering, added, “Mesa takes great pride in the dedication of our maintenance staff, and I applaud our personnel for maximizing the opportunities to benefit from the training resources they have available to them. This dedication is a strong reflection on Mesa’s commitment to a Safety First culture, and represents the second consecutive year that Mesa’s maintenance staff have been awarded the Diamond Award of excellence.”

Mesa currently operates 69 aircraft with approximately 396 daily system departures to 77 cities, and recently announced an additional 30 Embraer 175 aircraft will be flying for United Airlines. Mesa operates as US Airways Express and United Express under contractual agreements with US Airways and United Airlines, respectively, and independently as go!.