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Organization and Operations

6 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2019

Organization Consolidation And Presentation Of Financial Statements [Abstract]

1.	Organization and Operations

About Mesa Air Group, Inc.

Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, Mesa Air Group, Inc. ("Mesa" or the "Company") is a holding company whose principal subsidiary, Mesa Airlines, Inc. ("Mesa Airlines"), operates as a regional air carrier providing scheduled passenger service to 129 cities in 41 states, the District of Columbia, Canada, Mexico, Cuba, and the Bahamas. As of March 31, 2019, Mesa operated a fleet of 145 aircraft with approximately 609 daily departures and 3,400 employees. Mesa operates all of its flights as either American Eagle or United Express flights pursuant to the terms of the capacity purchase agreements entered into with American Airlines, Inc. (“American”) and United Airlines, Inc. (“United”).

The financial arrangements between the Company and its major airline partners involve a revenue-guarantee arrangement (i.e. a "capacity purchase agreement") whereby the major airline pays a monthly guaranteed amount for each aircraft under contract, a fixed fee for each block hour (the number of hours during which the aircraft is in revenue service, measured from the time of gate departure before take-off until the time of gate arrival at the destination) and flight flown and reimbursement of certain direct operating expenses in exchange for providing regional flying. The major airline partners also pay certain expenses directly to suppliers, such as fuel, ground operations and landing fees. Under the terms of these capacity purchase agreements, the major airline controls route selection, pricing and seat inventories, thereby reducing the Company's exposure to fluctuations in passenger traffic, fare levels, and fuel prices.

On August 8, 2018, the Company filed its Second Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation, which, among other things: (i) effected a 2.5-for-1 stock split of its common stock; and (ii) increased the authorized number of shares of its common and preferred stock to 125,000,000 and 5,000,000, respectively. All references to share and per share amounts in the Company's condensed consolidated financial statements have been retrospectively revised to reflect the stock split and increase in authorized shares.

On August 14, 2018, the Company completed an initial public offering ("IPO") of its common stock, in which it issued and sold 9,630,000 shares (the "Firm Shares") of common stock at a public offering price of $12.00 per share, resulting in gross proceeds to the Company of approximately $115.6 million. Additionally, in connection with the IPO, the Company granted the underwriters an option to purchase up to an additional 1,444,500 shares of common stock at the same price. On September 11, 2018, the Company closed the sale of 1,344,500 shares ("Option Shares") of its common stock, in connection with the partial exercise of the overallotment option granted to the underwriters in its IPO. Of the 1,344,500 Option Shares sold, 723,985 were purchased directly from the Company and the remaining 620,515 shares were purchased directly from the selling shareholders. The Firm Shares and Option Shares were sold to the public for a price of $12.00 per share.

The sale of the Firm Shares and Option Shares raised gross proceeds of approximately $124.2 million. The Company did not receive any proceeds from the sale of the Option Shares by the selling shareholders. The Company received $111.7 million in net proceeds after deducting $8.7 million of underwriting discounts and commissions and $3.8 million in offering costs.

As part of the IPO, stock appreciation rights ("SARs") previously issued under the Mesa Air Group, Inc. Amended and Restated Stock Appreciation Rights Plan (the "SAR Plan"), which settled only in cash, were cancelled and exchanged for an aggregate of 1,266,034 shares of restricted common stock under the Company's 2018 Equity Incentive Plan (the "2018 Plan"), of which 966,022 were fully vested upon issuance and are included in the number of shares of common stock outstanding after the IPO. Of the 966,022 fully vested shares, 314,198 shares were retained by the Company to satisfy tax withholding obligations, resulting in a net issuance of 651,824 shares. Additionally, 983,113 shares of restricted common stock were issued to certain of its employees and directors under its 2018 Plan in exchange for the cancellation of 491,915 shares of existing unvested restricted phantom stock units and 491,198 shares of restricted stock under the 2011 and 2017 Plans, respectively.

American Capacity Purchase Agreement

As of March 31, 2019, the Company operated 64 CRJ-900 aircraft for American under a capacity purchase agreement (the "American Capacity Purchase Agreement"). Unless otherwise extended or amended, the capacity purchase agreement for the aircraft expires between 2021 and 2025. In exchange for providing flights and all other services under the agreement, the Company receives a fixed monthly minimum amount per aircraft, plus certain additional amounts based upon the number of flights and block hours flown during the month. In addition, the Company may also receive incentives or pay penalties based upon the Company's operational performance, including controllable on-time departure and controllable completion percentages. American also reimburses the Company for the actual amount incurred for certain items such as passenger liability and hull insurance, and aircraft property taxes. In addition, American also provides, at no cost to the Company, certain ground handling and customer service functions, as well as airport-related facilities and fuel. The Company also receives a monthly profit margin payment from American based on the number of aircraft operating. The capacity purchase agreement is subject to early termination for cause under specified circumstances and subject to the Company's right to cure under certain conditions. American had a 7.2% ownership interest in the Company, calculated on a fully-diluted basis as of March 31, 2019, and September 30, 2018. The related party amounts presented on the condensed consolidated balance sheets and statements of operations pertain to American.

On January 31, 2019, the Company entered into an amendment to the American Capacity Purchase Agreement, the terms of which provide for new and revised operational performance metrics, the Company’s right to earn additional incentive compensation based on the achievement of such metrics, and the right of American to permanently withdraw up to six (6) aircraft in the event the Company fails to meet such new/revised performance metrics. Under the terms of such amendment the Company also agreed, effective April 2, 2019, to convert two (2) aircraft to be utilized by the Company as operational spares in the Company’s sole discretion throughout its system.

United Capacity Purchase Agreement

As of March 31, 2019, the Company operated 20 CRJ-700 and 60 E-175 aircraft for United under a capacity purchase agreement (the "United Capacity Purchase Agreement"). Subject to certain early termination rights, the capacity purchase agreement for each of the 20 CRJ-700 aircraft expires between August and December 2019. Subject to early termination rights, the capacity purchase agreement for 30 of the E-175 aircraft (owned by United) expires between June 2019 and August 2020, subject to United's right to extend for four additional two-year terms (maximum of eight years). Subject to early termination rights, the capacity purchase agreement for 18 of the E-175 aircraft (owned by Mesa) expires between January 2028 and November 2028. During fiscal 2017, the Company and United expanded the capacity purchase agreement to include, subject to early termination rights, an additional 12 E-175 aircraft (purchased by United) with the aircraft entering service through January 2018 for five-year terms, subject to United's right to extend for four additional two-year terms (maximum of eight years). In exchange for performing the flight services under such agreement, the Company receives from United a fixed monthly minimum amount per aircraft, plus certain additional amounts based upon the number of flights and block hours flown during the month. Additionally, certain costs incurred by the Company in performing the flight services are "pass-through" costs, whereby United agrees to reimburse the Company for the actual amounts incurred for the following items: property tax per aircraft, passenger liability insurance, and additionally for the E-175 aircraft owned by United, heavy airframe and engine maintenance, landing gear, auxiliary power units ("APU") and component maintenance. The Company also receives a profit margin based upon certain reimbursable costs under the agreement, as well as its operational performance in addition to a fixed profit margin. The capacity purchase agreement is also subject to early termination for cause under specified circumstances and subject to the Company's right to cure under certain circumstances. United is also permitted, subject to certain conditions, to terminate the agreement early in its discretion by giving Mesa notice of 90 days or more.

In February 2018, the Company mutually agreed with United to temporarily remove two aircraft from service under its United Capacity Purchase Agreement until the Company was able to fully staff flight operations. During the temporary removal, the Company agreed to pay the lease costs associated with the two E-175 aircraft, which totaled $1.9 million. In June 2018, the Company was able to fully staff flight operations and these two E-175 aircraft were placed back into service under the United Capacity Purchase Agreement.