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Twin Cities-based Mesaba Airlines was fined $125,000 on Friday by the federal government, which alleges that the regional carrier failed to promptly assist passengers in need of wheelchairs and other services as they got on and off its aircraft.

The "vast majority" of the violations involved "people who asked for wheelchair service and waited an extensive period of time," said U.S. Department of Transportation spokesman Bill Mosley, who added that Mesaba has agreed to pay the civil penalty and correct the noted shortcomings.

Mosley declined to specify how many violations are involved but said the number is "significant" and most commonly happened at Mesaba's hub airports. The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport is one of those hubs.

"We expect airlines to respect the rights of passengers with disabilities, and we will continue to take enforcement action when they do not," U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in announcing the penalty.

Mesaba, based in Eagan, is a subsidiary of Pinnacle Airlines and operates as a Delta Connection carrier under service agreements with Delta Air Lines.

A Pinnacle spokesman said in an e-mail that the problems happened before Pinnacle bought Mesaba last year. He said Mesaba used third-party vendors for wheelchair service and that in some cases "passengers were not accommodated in the manner we would expect."

The Transportation Department said complaints about Mesaba were filed with the carrier and the department during 2007 and 2008.

The violations, the department said, involve the requirement that airlines must provide wheelchairs, ramps or mechanical lifts for disabled passengers along with personnel to assist the passengers. The requirement also prohibits carriers from leaving any disabled passenger unattended for more than 30 minutes while using a wheelchair.

The department also said Mesaba did not provide the required written responses to complaints from passengers with disabilities or notify them that they could refer their complaints to the federal agency.

Mesaba serves more than 110 U.S. and Canadian cities from Delta's hubs in the Twin Cities, Detroit, Memphis, Atlanta and Salt Lake City.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482