Pay & conditions · North America

Mesa Airlines: pilot jobs, pay and conditions

United States · Regional · YV / ASH

Hiring status unknown

Part of the Republic Airways Holdings group

Mesa merged into Republic Airways Holdings on 25 Nov 2025 but still flies on its own FAA certificate; Republic's Q2 2026 investor update targets certificate harmonization in 2028. A Mesa 'First Officer' pipeline advert (E175, training in Phoenix, 76-hour monthly guarantee) appeared on job boards in 2026, but Mesa's own careers site could not be loaded to confirm current openings.

Pay

Unofficial figures. Not from an agreement or the airline: collected from pilot forums, salary sites and other public sources. Treat them as indicative.

Hourly E175 rates under the ALPA-Mesa letter of agreement of August 2022, in force from 15 Sep 2022 with a 1% raise every 15 September. FO goes from $101 in year 1 to $111 from year 5 onward. Captain goes from $151 in year 1 to $217 in years 19-20. These figures come from AirlinePilotCentral (page last updated Feb 2024) and the Ready for Takeoff guide (May 2026), not from the LOA itself. Because of the annual 1% steps, actual 2026 rates may be slightly higher. Mesa's own Direct-Entry Captain page gives $150-215 per flight hour. The 2022 launch of these rates ($100 FO / $150 CPT starting) was covered by The Points Guy. The monthly guarantee is 76 hours. Pilots from Mesa and Republic are negotiating a joint CBA (talks began Dec 2025), so the scale may change.

Agreement news

• ALPA-Mesa pilot pay Letter of Agreement (Aug 2022) ↗
  The Points Guy · summary · 2022

Open vacancies (0)

Conditions

Allowances

Per diem $1.89 per hour away from base. Deadhead is paid at 65%. Cancellations pay 100%. Pay is block-or-better.

Roster

76-hour monthly reserve/line guarantee with at least 11 days off a month (per AirlinePilotCentral).

Bases

IAH, IAD, SDF

Fleet

E175

Benefits

401(k), medical and dental, and travel privileges. The DEC page mentions a longevity match program, and the United Aviate pathway gives a route to United. Bonuses on third-party pages include a $110,000 Direct-Entry Captain sign-on bonus paid after training and a $40,000 near-entry captain bonus paid after IOE. Mesa's DEC page also advertises a $20,000 referral bonus. Bonus availability in 2026 is not confirmed.

Union

ALPA (Mesa Master Executive Council); joint contract talks with the Republic pilot group are under way

Careers site

mesa-air.com ↗

Requirements

First officer

1,500 hours minimum

Type rating

Provided in training (E175)

Licence

FAA Commercial with multi-engine and instrument ratings, ATP written (CTP can be provided), FAA first-class medical, FCC restricted radiotelephone permit

Other

R-ATP paths: 1,250 hrs with a 2-year aviation degree, 1,000 hrs with a 4-year aviation degree, 750 hrs for military pilots. Minimum age 21, valid passport, and U.S. work authorization. Direct-Entry Captains need at least 1,000 hours of qualifying commercial air carrier experience.

Sources

Not from an official source: figures collected from pilot forums, salary sites and other public sources. Indicative only · figures from 2026-05 · checked 1 Nov 2026

• AeroXplorer - U.S. greenlights final certificate transfer between Mesa and Republic Airways (Jan 2026)
• Republic Airways Q2 2026 Investor Update
• Panabee - Republic Airways Q2 revenue and Mesa integration (Jul 2026)
• AirlinePilotCentral - Mesa Airlines
• Ready for Takeoff - Mesa Airlines pilot conditions
• Mesa Airlines - Direct-Entry Captain
• The Points Guy - Mesa Airlines pilot pay (Aug 2022)
• Teal - Mesa Airlines First Officer 2026 posting

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