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Home » Sun Country » Sun Country Growth Plan Fueled By Amazon
NewsSun Country

Sun Country Growth Plan Fueled By Amazon

Matthew Klint Posted onDecember 18, 2019November 14, 2023 4 Comments

an airplane on the runway

Looking to solidly its burgeoning grip over e-commerce, Amazon is enlisting the aid of Sun Country Airlines. The move will mark another pivot for a carrier that has struggled to find its footing.

As next-day delivery becomes less of a luxury and more an expectation, Amazon is seeking to build its air cargo partnerships. Already, the e-commerce giant works with Air Transport Services Group Inc. (ATSG) and Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings Inc. (Atlas) but that is not enough to keep up. 

In partnering with its first passenger airline, Amazon hopes to position itself to stay ahead of growing customer demand. While global air cargo traffic has stalled, domestic air cargo volume in the United States is up 20% since 2018.

A New Strategy for Sun Country

For Sun Country, a foray into the cargo business marks another pivot. Sun Country was acquired in 2017 by a venture capitalist group and re-styled itself as a budget carrier. Abandoning first class cabins and a strict hub-and-spoke route structure in Minneapolis, the carrier has branched out to Southwest-style “direct” service in many new markets.

But with its new deal from Amazon, Sun Country will add 10 Boeing 737-800 aircraft to its fleet and increase its number of pilots by 70. More ground staff will also be added. These new aircraft will be cargo-dedicated.

The move further diversifies Sun Country’s business, which includes charter, military, scheduled passengers, and now cargo service.

And according to Sun Country CEO Jude Bricker, his airline struck quite a lucrative deal with Amazon:

“These are pretty highly compensated positions…We are very excited about this. This is going to be a great growth opportunity for our company, and the important thing for the Twin Cities is it will make us a better airline for Minnesota leisure travelers.”

The new cargo service will begin next year. With it, Sun Country will operate approximately 60% passengers service, 20% charter service, and 20% cargo service.

CONCLUSION

This all started thanks to a note from Bricker to Amazon. Bricker proposed selling some of Sun Country’s 737-800s to Amazon for their growing air cargo business. It took eight months to respond, but Amazon returned with a counteroffer: fly for us instead. Apparently, the offer was too goo to pass up.

image: Sun Country Airlines

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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4 Comments

  1. Mark Reply
    December 18, 2019 at 7:51 am

    The story forgot to mention that one of the guys working for Jude at Sun Country left for Amazon Air earlier this year

  2. Jimmy Reply
    December 18, 2019 at 11:23 am

    You feel like any company that gets involved with Amazon is going to regret it eventually. Sort of like Walmart in the old days.

  3. BSOD Reply
    December 20, 2019 at 10:26 am

    Hats off to Bricker for this, Sun Country needs the revenue. Their core business, getting the cold, frosty MSP passengers to places that still have natural green on the ground only goes so far and they still strand travelers multiple times yearly. I hope they get purchased by another airline that actually cares about their passengers soon, otherwise Bricker will run this into the ground as well.

  4. Pingback: Sun Country Growth Plan Fueled By Amazon – Matthew Klint – हिंदी Breaking Latest Hindi News, English, India 365 News

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