Go! wins contract to fly federal workers

The airline will provide flights at discounted rates under the deal

Mesa Air Group's interisland carrier, go!, has won a one-year contract to fly federal employees at discounted rates that will provide an estimated $2.5 million in revenue and boost the number of passengers flying on nine of its routes.

The U.S. General Services Administration awarded the contract for fiscal year 2008, which starts Oct. 1. GSA is a federal procurement agency that offers, among other things, discount commercial airfares to federal travelers on official business.

The last interisland carrier to hold the GSA contract was Hawaiian Airlines in fiscal 2006. No airline had the contract for fiscal 2007, which ends Sept. 30.

"We're really happy," Jonathan Ornstein, chairman and chief executive of Mesa, said yesterday. "We think it will add between 5 and 7 load-factor points based on what the federal government says the traffic will be."

Since beginning interisland service on June 9, 2006, go!'s 50-seat Bombardier CRJ-200s typically have been less than two-thirds full with a load factor, or percentage of seats filled, fluctuating between 60 and 65 percent.

The routes, which include those operated by go!Express code-share partner Mokulele Airlines, are: Honolulu-Hilo, Honolulu-Kapalua, Honolulu-Kona, Honolulu-Kauai, Honolulu-Lanai, Honolulu-Molokai, Honolulu-Kahului, Kauai-Kahului and Kaunakakai-Kahului.

GSA, which overall awarded more than $2 billion worth of contracts to 14 U.S. carriers, said the discount is expected to generate savings of more than $4.5 billion on 5,002 domestic and international routes.

Criteria the agency evaluated included flight time, price, level of service, flight distribution, number of flights, available seats, ticket refunds and penalties for cancellations and schedule changes.