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Mesa Air Group’s recent bankruptcy filing is the first for a US airline in almost a year, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Mesa Air is a regional carrier operating on behalf of United Airlines, Delta Airlines and U.S. Airways Group. It flies between 125 cities in the U.S, Mexico and Canada.

It also has a smaller airline called go! Mokulele which flies primarily in Hawaii. go! Mokulele was not listed on the bankruptcy chapter petition.

With the rise in gas prices and the lessening demand of flights, the airline’s revenue dropped. IN the face of a reported $24.2 million loss, Mesa decided to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy and reorganize.

Mesa filed their petition in the New York Bankruptcy court under Judge Martin Glenn. According to the WSJ, Mesa has around $975 million in assets and about $869 in liabilities.

Mesa owes its two largest creditors, Bombardier Inc. and Embraer, around $150 million. According to CEO Jonathan Ornstein, Mesa filed for bankruptcy to get rid of airplanes that they no longer needed.

The Mesa fleet consists of 178 airplanes. The company has already parked 52 planes and hopes to cut 25 more from their fleet soon.

Mesa also hopes the bankruptcy will speed up the lawsuit they filed against Delta which seeks $70 million in damages.

In 2008, Delta terminated a contract with Mesa before the contract term was over. Both the lower and appeals court barred Delta from terminating the contract for 22 of their jetliners.

At this point, Mesa hopes to continue its operations as normal and keep all of their 3,400 employees on staff.

Ortstein said it is important that “the foundation of our business – our people, operational integrity and values remain intact.”

According to Mesa’s press release they requested to continue paying employee’s salaries and benefits, honor customer programs and pay their vendors and suppliers for post petition goods and services.

Ortstein hopes the company will emerge from bankruptcy successful. The company has worked with their creditors for two years in attempts to cut down their debt, and was successful in eliminate more than $160 million in debt.

Ortein said that the company, “has ample liquidity to support itself during this process and we are confident we will emerge from Chapter 11 even a stronger operation.”