Republic Buys Mesa, Creating Sixth-Biggest U.S. Airline by Fleet Size

The first airline merger in the U.S. since Alaska Airlines bought Hawaiian Airlines in 2024 is between 2 regional carriers: Mesa Air Group and Republic Airways.

Republic is acquiring Mesa in an all-stock deal, the companies said on Monday. This will create the sixth largest U.S. airline by fleet size, which will keep the name Republic Airways and continue flying for the biggest legacy carriers, as it does today.

Let’s look at what this merger is about.

Republic and Mesa Aim for Scale and Will Continue Flying for the Same Legacy Carriers

As the U.S. airline industry consolidates, the smaller regional players are moving towards greater scale, too. That’s precisely the point of this merger, according to what the airlines said in a statement, without specifying the financial terms of the deal.

The bigger, merged airline “will enable more efficient and productive regional flying and crew resource management,” with “increased relevance among global institutional investors, and improved access to capital markets.”

The post-merger Republic will be the sixth-biggest airline in the U.S. by fleet size, with 310 airplanes, ahead of JetBlue and Alaska Airlines.

Notably, the entire fleet is comprised of just 1 aircraft type: Embraer 170 and 175 regional jets, with a maximum capacity of 70 and 76 seats, respectively. With the same engines, crew training, and spare parts — the only difference is that the 175 is slightly larger — the merged fleet will benefit from economies of scale.

Most importantly, the new airline will continue flying for the same mainline carriers as the separate Republic and Mesa do today. Republic flies for all 3 legacy network carriers — American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines — while Mesa flies only for United. That won’t change with the merger. In fact, part of the merger agreement is that Mesa got a new 10-year contract to keep flying for its sole partner, United.

After the merger, passengers will continue hearing the same onboard announcements, boarding in the same order, and seeing the same mainline carrier uniforms on cabin and flight deck crew. Mileage accrual and redemption will obey the same rules as today.

And, Republic will keep flying its planes mostly in the colors of the mainline carriers’ regional arms: American Eagle, Delta Connection, and United Express.

Final Thoughts

Airline mergers usually reduce competition, resulting in higher average airfares on a given route, but this one may not cause higher prices. Republic and Mesa aren’t strictly competitors so much as providers of flights for third parties, and their union won’t necessarily raise airfare. It’s more of a move directed at consolidation, and it should be seamless for passengers, who won’t see much of a difference.