Mesa Air Group Inc. won a federal appeals court ruling upholding an order that bars Delta Air Lines Inc. from canceling a contract for regional flights.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta said Wednesday that Delta had gone back on a promise not to count certain Mesa flight cancellations against the regional carrier’s overall flight-completion rate.
Delta sought to end flights by Mesa’s Freedom Airlines because its completion rate had fallen. Mesa won a federal court order in May blocking Delta’s plan.
Mesa, which also operates interisland carrier go!, said last year that the contract amounted to $20 million in monthly revenue for the parent company, or about 20 percent of its total sales for 2007.
Mesa had said it might be forced to file for bankruptcy protection if it lost its legal fight with Delta.