About The Company
The base of Mesaba Airlines is in Eagan, Minnesota and they are primarily an American regional airline. Their flights are maintained under the name Northwest Airlink as a part of Northwest Airlines. Mesaba Airlines is currently under bankruptcy protection.

History Of Mesaba Airlines: -
Gordy Newstrom in Coleraine, Minnesota started Mesaba Airlines in 1944 under the name Mesaba Aviation. The company started with only one plane and the purpose of the company was to fly employees of Blandin Paper Company between Grand Rapids and Minneapolis Minnesota. The company moved to Grand Rapids in 1950.

Newstrom sold Mesaba Aviation to the Halverson family in 1970. The new owners began airline flights for rural Minnesota communities in early 1973. Then in 1977 the company was once again purchased by the Swenson family. In 1982 the new owners took the company into the public sector with flights to Iowa and the Dakotas with a new fleet of Beech 99s.

Mesaba Airlines became a partner with Republic Airlines in 1983. When Republic Airlines merged with Northwest Orient Airlines in 1986, Mesaba Airlines began partnership with Northwest Airlink carrier. The new role of Mesaba Airlines first started as a small feeder service for flights from Detroit to smaller airports throughout the east and Midwest portions of the United States.

By the nineties Mesaba Airlines took delivery of turboprop aircraft and began shuttle service for Northwest Airlines. Soon the fleet of Mesaba Airlines included 55 aircraft with a potential of 114 aircraft being purchased by 2006. The total company employees were over a thousand in the nineties.

Then in 2001 after September 11th, Mesaba Airlines was forced to take a twenty percent cut in their workforce to help save costs. About half of Mesaba Airlines revenue came form their Avro jet fleet and in 2003 Northwest announced they would retire the fleet since they viewed them as inefficient and aging. In 2005 the company signed a deal to gain fifteen Canadair Regional Jets to replace their Avro jet fleet.

Mesaba Airlines Destinations: -
Mesaba Airlines is primarily a shuttle service. Most of their flights are done between Minneapolis, Detroit and Memphis with regional jet and turboprop aircraft. They also offer shuttle flights to various small and medium sized airports in various smaller cities and towns on the east coast of the United States and in the Midwest region.