Nearly 200 Jobs Lost At Eagan HQ

After its purchase by Pinnacle Airlines last year, regional carrier Mesaba Airlines announced that it will be permanently closing its headquarters in Eagan, MN south of St. Paul and moving to Memphis, TN. The move is expected to come right after Christmas, and cost 193 people their jobs. Just over 600 will remain employed by the airline in Minnesota.

Pinnacle had said when it purchased Mesaba from Delta in 2010 that it would not close the Egan headquarters, but the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that Pinnacle spokesman Joe Williams said the move was part of the plan from the outset. 

Mesaba says it plans to keep a training facility open in Eagan, as well as the airline's pilot group and maintenance operation. The move follows the appointment of John Spanjers, who had been Mesaba's operations chief, as the COO for Pinnacle. He will be based in Memphis.

For now, Pinnacle says it will keep the Mesaba brand alive. The company says an overall contraction in flights among the airline industry is not a contributing factor to the move, as it does not schedule its own flights. That responsibility is left to Delta, which contracts with Mesaba under a codeshare agreement, according to the paper.

FMI: www.mesaba.com, www.flypinnacle.com