BUZZ-Mesa Air gains on deals to sell 18 Embraer planes, 15 CRJ-900 airframes

** Shares of Mesa Air Group MESA.O up 5.7% at $1.33 in premarket trading

** MESA to sell 18 Embraer ERJ 175 aircraft to United Airlines UAL.O for gross proceeds of $229.1 million

** Will also sell 15 used CRJ-900 airframes to a third party for $19 million

** Airline operator to use proceeds to pare debt

** As of last close, shares up ~8.6% YTD

(Reporting by Rupali Chaudhary in Bengaluru)

((Rupali.Chaudhary@thomsonreuters.com))