MEMPHIS (AP) — Pinnacle Airlines Corp. this week begins moving into its new headquarters in downtown Memphis.
Company officials said in a conference call with analysts Thursday that it expects to complete the move from its existing offices near the Memphis airport by the end of the year. More than 600 employees are involved in the relocation.
Pinnacle last year decided to stay in Memphis after considering a move to Olive Springs, Miss. Memphis and Tennessee officials lobbied the company to stay and worked to find a location where it could consolidate multiple offices. The Center City Commission put together a $17.4 million bond deal that helped private investors buy a former bank building at One Commerce Square and renovate it for the airline's headquarters.
CEO and President Sean Menke said on the call monitored by The Memphis Daily News (http://bit.ly/oziW4u) that the move "can be distracting" as the airline holding company works to merge three regional carriers into one entity.
The regional carriers, Pinnacle Airlines, Mesaba Aviation and Colgan Air, make about 1,650 flights a day for Delta, Continental, United and US Airways.
Menke, who took the top roles at the parent company on July 1, said he and Chief Operating Officer Ted Christie are focusing on consolidating facilities of the three carriers and setting up one division for its turboprops and another for its jets.
Pinnacle Airlines currently flies all jets, while Colgan is all turboprops and Mesaba operates both kinds of aircraft.
By the end the year, Christie and Menke said, the company expects to transfer Mesaba's jets to Pinnacle for operation under one Federal Aviation Administration certificate. The long-term plan is to phase out using the Colgan name and operate the turboprop division as Mesaba.
Pinnacle suffered a loss in the second quarter of $2.4 million. Menke and Christie attributed that to rising fuel costs, better pay and benefits for pilots and performance penalties from the bigger airlines it has contracts to fly for.
Pinnacle officials said they have had to relocate crews and adjust schedules because of major shifts in Delta's operations.
"The airline industry continues its transformation," Menke told the analysts. "It isn't something that is visible day to day but it is evident when you look back five years and certainly 10 years."