With air travel rebounding, Minneapolis-based Sun Country Airlines announced on Tuesday a major expansion with more than a dozen more nonstop routes from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport next year, including to Atlantic City, Colorado Springs, Louisville and New York.
The move revives Sun Country's pre-pandemic drive to become a low-cost carrier with national reach. It will provide more competition at MSP, where Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines is the dominant carrier.
"This is one of the single largest route network expansions at MSP," said Brian Ryks, chief executive of the Metropolitan Airports Commission, which owns and operates the airport.
The carrier's expanded schedule demonstrates that domestic and leisure travel demand remain promising in 2023 as the overall recovery in air travel continues. Sun Country has been hiring and training pilots and other employees, as well as adding planes to its fleet.
Sun Country is initially offering some steep discounts, but whether higher fares come down longer term remains to be seen given strong demand for travel.
Customers can now book spring travel on Sun Country from MSP to Atlantic City, N.J.; Charlotte, N.C.; Colorado Springs, Colo.; Columbus, Ohio; Detroit; Kansas City; Louisville, Ky.; Rapid City, S.D.; Richmond, Va.; Omaha; Traverse City, Mich., and Wilmington, N.C.
Sun Country will also resume nonstop service from MSP to John F. Kennedy International Airport, where the carrier last flew in 2019. It will restart nonstop service from MSP to Milwaukee and St. Louis.
In January 2019, Sun Country announced its largest expansion ever with 19 seasonal routes that spring. It was a big leap as the carrier attempted to transform from a middle-tier, Twin Cities-centric airline to an ultra-low-cost carrier.
During the pandemic, Sun Country relied more heavily on cargo and charter flights to offset the cancellations of passenger service. With the destinations it announced Tuesday, Sun Country is coordinating scheduled passenger service with its charter and cargo operations.
"New service to Charlotte, Columbus, Kansas City and St. Louis will coordinate with our Major League Soccer (MLS) charter service. New service to Atlantic City will support our casino charter customers," said Grant Whitney, chief revenue officer at Sun Country. "In addition, each of Sun Country's interline partners currently fly out of JFK, which will create more opportunities for our customers to travel internationally."
Sun Country's interline partners include China Airlines, Condor Airlines, Emirates, and Icelandair.
With Tuesday's expansion, Sun Country will operate 120 routes serving more than 90 airports across the United States, Mexico, Central America, Canada and the Caribbean.
