Mesa Air Group will shut down its go! Airlines subsidiary on 1 April, as it prepares to expand its feeder operations for American Airlines and United Airlines.

“While this was an extremely difficult decision to reach, we believe it is in the best interest of Mesa’s long term strategic objectives, particularly given the company’s ongoing expansion of aircraft in service with United Airlines and US Airways,” says Jonathan Ornstein, chairman and chief executive of Mesa, in a statement on go!’s website. He also cites rising operating costs for the decision.

Go! has operated flights within the Hawaiian islands since June 2006.

Mesa will begin operating 30 Embraer 175 aircraft for United Airlines in June and will add another four Bombardier CRJ900 aircraft to its existing operations for American Airlines Group-subsidiary US Airways during 2014.

Go!’s Bombardier CRJ200 aircraft will be redeployed to the US mainland, Ornstein says.

The regional carrier operates two 50-seat Bombardier CRJ200 aircraft, Flightglobal’s Ascend Online database shows. A third CRJ200 is in storage.

Passengers ticketed on go! flights between 1 April and 30 June are able to rebook on Hawaiian Airlines.

Source: Cirium Dashboard