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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 10:49 a.m., Thursday, February 14, 2008

Mesa to raise cash by selling spare airplane parts

Advertiser Staff

DALLAS — Mesa Air Group Inc., the parent company of interisland carrier go!, is in talks with five potential customers for $100 million worth of spare parts it may sell to raise cash, according to a report from Bloomberg News Service.

The negotiations come as Mesa's unrestricted cash fell to $90.9 million and as a Standard & Poor's analyst said the company may face liquidity issues. Phoenix-based Mesa may realize as much as 50 cents on the dollar for the parts, Chief Executive Jonathan Ornstein said in a conference call with analysts today.

"Liquidity levels could become a concern if cash levels drop much further," Standard & Poor's analyst James Corridore said in a note to investors today. "We believe Mesa is likely to continue to lose money in Hawai'i, a small operation which has become a large drain on resources."