Mesaba Airlines was an American regional airline based in Minneapolis, Minnesota The airline operates under Mesaba Aviation, Inc. a wholly owned subsidiary of Pinnacle Airlines Corporation. Its flights are operated under the name Delta Connection for Delta Air Lines and US Airways Express for US Airways. Mesaba Airlines effectively ceased operations on January 4, 2012 when all aircraft and personnel were shifted under the Pinnacle Airlines operating certificate, although Pinnacle Corp. technically retains the former Mesaba operating certificate. Mesaba was founded in 1944 by Gordy Newstrom... in the Mesabi Range city of Coleraine, Minnesota and started operations in the same year under the name of Mesaba Aviation. It had one airplane, a Piper Cub purchased for $1,300, and it was used to shuttle employees of the Blandin Paper Mill Company from Grand Rapids, Minnesota to Minneapolis. In 1950 Newstrom moved the company to Grand Rapids. In 1970, the Halverson family of Duluth, Minnesota bought Mesaba from Newstrom. On 4 February 1973, they started regularly scheduled airline services serving rural Minnesota communities.
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