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CEDAR CITY, Utah (AP) -- Mesa Airlines has released its new fares and flight schedules, two months after it was awarded Cedar City's essential air service contract by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
"It's a little more than they originally proposed, but it's still considerably cheaper than what the fares are now," said Steve Farmer, manager of Cedar City Regional Airport in southern Utah. "As a matter of fact, I think they've done the best they can."
The Phoenix-based airline began selling tickets at the new rate on Sunday.
Mesa will offer an introductory one-way fare of $49 on tickets purchased by April 8 for travel between May 7 -- the first day of scheduled service -- and May 31. That rate will be good for flights to Salt Lake City or Las Vegas.
"We were going for shock value, and I'm pretty sure this will shock people," Jeffrey Hartz, an analyst for Mesa Air Group, told The Spectrum of St. George. "I hope people will say, 'I'm going to give Mesa Airlines and America West Express a chance to fly us."'
Mesa's cheapest round-trip ticket to Salt Lake City will be $158, $20 less than SkyWest's best advertised price, Farmer said. SkyWest has served Cedar City for the past 31 years.
Mesa's lowest round-trip price from Cedar City to Las Vegas will be $128.
"I'll fly on Mesa," said former Cedar City Councilman Raymond Green after collecting his baggage at the airport on Saturday. "I think we need to give Mesa a good chance to show what they can do. We need to have the community behind them. I think they've done the best they can to accommodate us, and that's a good thing."
Business travelers will enjoy the greatest savings with Mesa. The airline's cheapest round-trip walkup ticket to Salt Lake City will sell for $198; SkyWest's lowest price is $276, Farmer said.
Mesa's best advertised price for a Las Vegas walkup ticket will be $168.
"We feel that Cedar City will become an integral part of our America West Express system," said Mickey Bowman, Mesa's vice president of planning.
Mesa will offer two flights to Salt Lake City on Monday through Friday, one flight on Sunday but no Saturday service. The airline will fly daily to and from Las Vegas.
"With the number of flights offered, I don't know how we would do it any better," Farmer said. "Obviously my goal is to prove to them that the planes will be full and that we need more flights."
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
