America West Airlines (NYSE: AWA)
announced today that it has restructured its code share agreement with Mesa
Airlines to expand regional flying in the western United States under the
America West Express banner.  The company also announced that it has entered
into a new partnership with Chautauqua Airlines for regional code sharing as
America West Express in the eastern United States.

Under the agreements, the America West Express regional jet fleet will
increase from 22 to 77 jet aircraft by 2005 with options for further expansion
to as many as 129 aircraft.  The new regional jets will be used to grow
America West`s service from its three primary hubs in Phoenix, Las Vegas and
Columbus, Ohio.

“Our existing partnership with Mesa has been very successful over the past
three years,” said William A. Franke, chairman and chief executive officer.
“Expansion of our Mesa arrangement and our new agreement with Chautauqua
represent key building blocks in America West`s long term growth strategy of
developing new markets, increasing market share in our hubs, expanding our
mainline service and improving America West`s customer service.”
 
“Our restructured partnership with Mesa will result in accelerated growth
of our Phoenix and Las Vegas hubs and will allow America West mainline jet
service to continue to develop by increasing passenger feed from smaller
communities,” said Franke.  “Our new partnership with Chautauqua reaffirms
America West`s commitment to Columbus, providing opportunities for increasing
flights to both existing and new markets.  We expect these new arrangements to
be even more attractive for our passengers and for communities seeking full-
service, low-cost air transportation.”
 
The structure of the expanded arrangement with Mesa and the new
partnership with Chautauqua will be similar to the existing America West—
Mesa code share, marketing and revenue sharing arrangement.  As under the
current arrangement with Mesa, America West will be responsible for scheduling
and marketing the regional partners` flying and will reimburse certain costs,
and Mesa and Chautauqua will receive a share of the revenue earned from
America West Express operations.  All flights will be operated under the
America West Express banner utilizing the HP two-letter designation code.
 
The new Mesa arrangement will add three 50-seat Bombardier CRJ-200s,
twenty 65-seat CRJ-700s and twenty 80-seat CRJ-900s to the America West
Express existing fleet of 22 CRJ-200s, with deliveries beginning in April 2001
and continuing through 2005.  Mesa also has granted America West an option for
an additional forty CRJs.  Both the CRJ-700 and CRJ-900 will be equipped with
a dual-class configuration including six first class seats.
 
America West`s agreement with Mesa includes continuing for the near term
the operation of twelve 37-seat deHavilland Dash 8 turboprops and five 19-seat
Hawker-Beech 1900s.  Mesa`s America West Express operations will be focused
around Southwest and West Coast flying to smaller destinations that cannot
profitably support mainline jet service.
 
The agreement with Chautauqua calls for the deployment in 2001 and 2002 of
12 Embraer 145 regional jets to serve Midwestern and Eastern business markets
including Chicago, Baltimore and Boston from America West`s Columbus hub.  The
arrangement also includes an option for an additional 12 Embraer 145s for
operation in the America West Express system.  The Embraer 145s will have a
50-seat, all economy configuration.  America West currently operates
46 mainline and America West Express flights from Columbus, the most of any
airline.  The new arrangement will facilitate both the further growth of that
hub and the redeployment of nine Mesa CRJs now operating in Columbus to
support more rapid expansion of the Phoenix and Las Vegas America West Express
operations.

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning
of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involve risks and
uncertainties that could cause America West`s actual results and financial
position to differ materially from these statements.  The risks and
uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the cyclical nature of the
airline industry, competitive practices in the industry, the impact of changes
in fuel prices, relations with unionized employees generally and the impact of
the process of negotiation of labor contracts on the company`s operations, the
outcome of negotiations of collective bargaining agreements and the impact of
these agreements on labor costs, the impact of industry regulation and other
factors described from time to time in the company`s publicly available SEC
reports.  The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-
looking statement to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the
date of this press release.

——-