Mesa Air delays results again

Mesa Air Group Inc., the operator of interisland carrier go!, has delayed the release of its fiscal fourth-quarter and full-year earnings for a second time as it continues reviewing "certain estimates and reserves."

The results probably will be released around Jan. 15, rather than today as most recently announced, the Phoenix-based company said.

Mesa, which said earlier this month that it expects a fiscal-year loss, also said the decision to sell Air Midwest as of Sept. 30 requires that the unit be counted as a discontinued operation.

"(That) has impacted our ability to finalize our financial statements in the time frame originally anticipated," Chairman and Chief Executive Jonathan Ornstein said.

Mesa is operating with an interim chief financial officer, William Hoke, after firing CFO Peter Murnane in November for his role in deleting evidence on his computers in connection to Hawaiian Airlines' federal lawsuit against Mesa.

On Oct. 30, federal Bankruptcy Judge Robert Faris ruled that Mesa had used confidential information obtained as a potential investor during Hawaiian's bankruptcy to gain an unfair competitive advantage in entering the Hawaii market in June 2006. Faris awarded Hawaiian $80 million in damages, plus interest and attorney fees.

Mesa, which is appealing the decision to U.S. District Court, was ordered to put up a $90 million bond in the meantime. Earlier this month, Mesa's motion for a new trial, in which it cited discovery of "new evidence" and alleged errors by the court, was denied by Faris.

In addition to its operation of go!, Mesa conducts regional flights for Delta Air Lines Inc., US Airways Group Inc. and UAL Corp.'s United Airlines. It makes more than 1,100 daily flights to 184 cities in the United States, Canada, the Bahamas and Mexico.