Sun Country Airlines is Back on Course to Make Profits

June 2, 2005
In its new incarnation, guided by owners who rescued it from bankruptcy and liquidation three years ago, Sun Country hopes to avoid a repeat of previous near-fatal missteps.

Cheeseburgers, smiling employees, tight cost control, a fleet of young, fuel-efficient jets and relatively low fares on relatively short notice. What does that get you? The Twin Cities' fastest-growing airline. And something else rare in the airline industry these days: profits.

Mendota Heights, Minn.,-based Sun Country Airlines has once again established itself as the Twin Cities' No. 2 airline - well behind Northwest, of course.

In its new incarnation, guided by owners who rescued it from bankruptcy and liquidation three years ago, Sun Country hopes to avoid a repeat of previous near-fatal missteps, including a head-on battle with Eagan, Minn.,-based Northwest.

"Sun Country has a model now where they can have an aircraft full of leisure travelers and make money - not a ton of it, but they can make money," said George Wozniak, owner of Hobbit Travel and a lead investor of MN Airlines LLC, which owns Sun Country.

Cumulatively, in its last nine quarters, the airline has earned $8 million on revenue of $321 million.

Last year, Sun Country flew nearly 1.1 million passengers into or out of the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, topping United Airlines by about 40,000 passengers. Northwest and its regional carriers flew 28.7 million passengers by the airport's count, which includes passengers transferring between flights.

John Marien, a retired Wells Fargo banker from South St. Paul, is among the travelers who have become passengers - and fans - of Sun Country.

He could have flown Northwest to San Diego on a trip earlier this month to visit a son and daughter there. But he decided to fly Sun Country, recalling how well a trip to Dallas on Sun Country had gone in February. It included a free, "excellent" hot lunch.

"Sun Country was cheaper," Marien said. "The service is better, and I don't have to pay $3 for a little box of two Oreos, a granola bar, some raisins and goldfish crackers."

Meals and service matter, said Sun Country CEO Shaun Nugent. "Our flights average three hours, and we feel that's a long time to go on an aircraft without something to eat," he said. "And we're not flying old 727s. We have aircraft that are ultramodern and ultracomfortable."