The Northwest Airlines hub in Memphis was exclusively served by Airlink partner Express Airlines I, which later operated as Pinnacle Airlines and now Endeavor Air, until 1997, when Mesaba initiated its first jet aircraft service using the Avro RJ85, the first jetliner type to be flown by either Airlink airline. The Avro RJ85 jetliner, which was a later model version of the British Aerospace BAe 146-200 featuring an improved cabin and more efficient engines, were operated as Northwest Jetlink flights with the aircraft being configured with 16 first-class seats and 53 coach seats. This marked the first time a regional airline had offered first class as well as a coach on a regional jet aircraft. Mesaba was split off at this time into Airways Corporation in order to address objections from mainline pilots flying for Northwest concerning Mesaba's operation of a jet fleet. Mesaba also became the first regional airline to have a first-class seating option via the Avro RJ85 jets, with this British-built four-engine aircraft being approximately twice as large as the 50-passenger regional jets manufactured by Canadair and Embraer. Eventually, as Pinnacle transitioned to an all Canadair CRJ regional jet fleet, Mesaba took overall Northwest Airlink Saab 340 turboprop operations.