Sun Country Airlines
| Sun Country Airlines | |
|---|---|
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| IATA code : | SY |
| ICAO code : | SCX |
| Call sign : | SUN COUNTRY |
| Founding: | 1982 |
| Seat: |
Mendota Heights , United States
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| Turnstile : | |
| Home airport : | Minneapolis-Saint Paul |
| Company form: | Limited Liability Company |
| IATA prefix code : | 337 |
| Management: | Jude Bricker ( CEO ) |
| Number of employees: | 716 (July 2009) |
| Frequent Flyer Program : | Ufly Rewards |
| Fleet size: | 44 |
| Aims: | National and international |
| Website: | www.suncountry.com |
Sun Country Airlines (trading name of MN Airlines, LLC ) is a US low-cost airline based in Mendota Heights and based at Minneapolis-Saint Paul Airport .
history
1980s
After Braniff International Airways' demise in 1982, some former Braniff employees convinced the Minneapolis-St. Paul-based tourism company MLT Vacations procure a Boeing 727-200 for flights to their vacation destinations. MLT used a Braniff Boeing 727-200 that was just in Minneapolis-St. Paul was shut down for charter flights to their vacation destinations. In June 1982 the contract to found Sun Country Airlines was signed. MLT took over 51% of the company, the remaining shares went to the pilots and flight attendants of the company. An Air Florida B727-227 Advanced originally intended for Braniff was secured for take-off.
The Sun Country crew consisted of 16 pilots, 16 flight attendants, three mechanics and one office worker. The first flight took place on January 30, 1983 from Sioux Falls to Las Vegas . In the first few days of the airline, the flight crew took care of all the necessary things before and during the flights, such as selling spirits and preparing food, while the pilots processed flight documents and also helped with serving the passengers. After only 6 months, the airline was in the black.
The company always flew profitably through slow but steady expansion in the 1980s. In 1986 the company deployed its first wide-body machine, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-40 leased from Northwest Airlines .
Sun Country has chartered flights for civil organizations, corporations, sports groups, and various other groups. In 1989, Sun Country became a member of the Civil Reserve Airfleet (CRAF) .
1990s
Sun Country flew many charter missions during the First Iraq War, 1990-1991. To better support Operation Desert Storm, 130 company employees were drafted into the US Air Force.
After a record profit in 1991, additional Boeing 727s and McDonnell Douglas DC-10s were purchased. Several tourism companies selected Sun Country as their airline and the network expanded with flights from the Midwest to Las Vegas, Florida, Mexico and the Caribbean.
In the mid-1990s, the Mark Travel Group bought the airline and changed the business profile to a small niche airline. The following years led the airline to its limits due to the obsolescence and length of use of the machines. A new management started a renewal program to meet the needs of the passengers. In June 1999, the company's management decided to switch the use of the fleet from charter traffic to scheduled traffic. New routes to Los Angeles, Seattle, Detroit, Washington, DC and Phoenix were offered from Minneapolis and Milwaukee. In addition, a frequent flyer program called "Smile Award" has been launched.
2000s
In 2000, Sun Country began to renew the fleet with new Boeing 737s. Since the DC-10 fleet was outdated and too expensive to maintain, the fleet was reduced and the last DC-10 was taken out of service in spring 2001.
The strong competition with Northwest Airlines and the events on September 11, 2001 forced the company to first reduce its offer and then to cease flight operations on December 8, 2001. As a result of the bankruptcy, Sun Country lost most of its Boeing 727 fleet and its new Boeing 737 machines. Despite everything, Sun Country retained its license to fly. In the months that followed, the local MN Airlines, LLC organized the bankruptcy process and started all over again. Freed from bankruptcy, Sun Country standardized its fleet to the Boeing 737-800 and began combined scheduled and charter flights from Minneapolis to Laughlin, the Nevada casinos and some charter flights. After that, charter flights were started with a focus on Florida, Mexico and the west coast.
On October 31, 2006, the airline was completely taken over by Petter Group Worldwide and Whitebox Advisor.
On April 1, 2008, the company announced that 45 of the 156 pilots would be put into temporary retirement and the planes would be used less than on normal summer flights in order to offset the sharply increased fuel costs.
In May 2015, the Board of Directors announced that flight operations would cease if there was no agreement with the pilots' union on a new employment contract. The talks have been going on since 2010.
Destinations
The company's main hub is at Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport . From here scheduled and charter flights are currently offered to 33 destinations within the USA, Costa Rica , Mexico and the Caribbean. Eight of these destinations are served all year round. Most flights start or end in Minneapolis-St.Paul, but there are also intermittent flights from smaller Midwestern cities such as Fargo, North Dakota and La Crosse, Wisconsin to leisure and vacation destinations such as Las Vegas and Laughlin, Nevada . Sun Country also offers flights from Minneapolis to London-Gatwick on a Boeing 737-800.
fleet
As of May 2020, the Sun Country Airlines fleet consists of 34 aircraft with an average age of 14.9 years:
| Aircraft type | number | ordered | Remarks | Seats | Average age
(April 2020) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boeing 737-700 | 1 | should be retired | 126 | 19.5 years | |
| Boeing 737-800 | 33 | two leased from Transavia | 162 | 14.8 years | |
| Boeing 737-800 (BCF) | 10 | Freight planes operated for Amazon Air | - | ||
| total | 44 | - | 14.9 years |
Sun Country Airlines has already used the following models in the past:
- 1 Boeing 727-200
- 13 McDonnell Douglas DC-10 -10 / -30 / -40
See also
Web links
- Website of Sun Country Airlines (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ New boss wants to make Sun Country cheap , accessed on September 4, 2017
- ↑ bts.gov: Search Airline Employment Data by Month ( Memento of the original from September 17, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Ch-aviation : Sun Country Airlines boss threatens to close down company (English), accessed on May 13, 2015
- ↑ suncountry.com: Flight Destinations ( Memento of the original from July 20, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ gatwickairport.com: Destinations & airlines ( Memento of the original dated May 23, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. May 9, 2011
- ^ A b c Sun Country Airlines Fleet Details and History. In: planespotters.net. May 22, 2020, accessed on May 22, 2020 .
- ↑ suncountry.com - Sun Country Fleet Information , accessed September 4, 2017
- ↑ Ch-aviation Sun Country moves to an all-B737-800 fleet in low-cost pivot (English), accessed on September 4, 2017
- ↑ Leslie Josephs: Amazon picks low-cost airline Sun Country to expand its cargo business. December 18, 2019, accessed on August 8, 2020 .
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