Sun Country, the Minneapolis-based airline best known for flying legions of frozen northerners to warm climates every winter is trying to make a name for itself as a more versatile but low-cost airline.
The airline, which got new owners and management in 2017, has dropped its first-class cabin, cut costs, added more planes, and, for the first time, has added flights that don’t either originate or terminate in Minneapolis. Hubs, and in some case bases, are growing in Portland, OR, Madison, WI, St. Louis and Dallas/Fort Worth.
In place of the first-class cabin, Sun Country is now offering three flavors of coach, Good, Better and Best, which come down to choices of legroom with the set pitch at 29, 32 or 34 inches. Under its new management, the airline has seen double-digit growth and a tidy profit.
This month it launched its latest innovation: a tie-up with bus company LandLine which allows passengers from Duluth and Mankato to check in at their local airports, check their bags, and then be bused to Minneapolis airport for the flight. If successful, it will be extended to more cities. Ju
de Bricker, CEO, told The Points Guy last week that “The business plan is super simple,” Bricker told TPG on Monday. “There’s about 4.5 million people that live a 90-minute drive from the Minneapolis airport and, for those people, we want to be their [preferred] air carrier to the extent they pay with their own money.”
