Sun Country Airlines adds 19 nonstop routes, service to seven additional airports

Sun Country Airlines on Tuesday announced its largest route expansion in the company's history, with the addition of 19 seasonal nonstop routes and seven airports.

The expansion includes eight new nonstop routes from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP), with services starting in April. That includes new routes from MSP to Providence, R.I.; Newark; Chicago's O'Hare airport; Philadelphia, St. Louis, Sacramento and San Antonio, cities that weren't previously serviced by the Eagan-based airline.

"Sun Country has the second-largest presence among air carriers at Minneapolis-St. Paul International, and these routes demonstrate our hometown airline's commitment to growing its business here in Minnesota," Metropolitan Airports Commission CEO Brian Ryks said in a statement.

The airline also added routes to its network from outside of Minneapolis, including three from Nashville, two from Dallas-Fort Worth, two from Portland, three from Las Vegas and one from San Francisco. With the additions, the airline will have increased its routes served by nearly 40 percent since June 2018 to reach a total of 86 routes across 53 airports.

"Today is a very exciting day in the history of Sun Country as we make this tremendous step forward in growing our airline," Sun Country CEO Jude Bricker said in a statement. "This network expansion allows us to provide even more destination options to our community, create new jobs in the Twin Cities market and further our reach across the country."

A spokesperson for Sun Country said the airline will not drop any existing routes as it adds the new destinations. The new routes will be made possible by a planned 10 percent increase of workers this year and increased usage of its current fleet of about 30 planes.

In a recent interview with the Business Journal, Bricker mentioned that Sun Country will add 200 employees in 2019, about 100 of them flight attendants. He also said Sun Country's fleet has grown by about 20 percent over the last two years and that the airline plans to add around three to six planes to its fleet each year.

Here's a list of the new routes served from MSP airport:
    Dulles International Airport (IAD)
    Starts April 25
    T.F. Green Airport, Providence (PVD)
    Service starts April 8
    Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR)
    Service starts April 11
    Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)
    Service starts April 19
    Philadelphia International Airport (PHL)
    Service starts April 18
    St. Louis Lambert International Airport (STL)
    Service starts June 13
    Sacramento International Airport (SMF)
    Service starts May 23, 2019
    San Antonio International Airport (SAT)
    Service starts May 23

Sun Country has revamped its growth strategy since Bricker joined the company in June 2017 and Apollo Global Management (NYSE: APO) purchased the company in late 2017.

In recent months, Sun Country unveiled its first plane ever purchased — a Boeing 737-800, and laid out a $6 million investment to revamp its website and eventually add self-service kiosks. It also submitted plans to move its headquarters to an airport hangar at MSP airport later this year.

Source:  Bizjournals.com