Sun Country CEO: Rival Delta Pushes Minneapolis-Based Airline To ‘Higher Level’

Wishing its biggest competitor well is one of the many ways in which Sun Country Airlines distinguishes itself from other carriers in an industry marked by fierce competition.

Sun Country is based at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP), which is a Delta Air Lines hub. The smaller carrier, the 10th-largest in the U.S. in terms of passenger share, operates a large portion of its scheduled service flights from MSP, especially leisure flights to winter sun destinations.

“Delta is a great carrier,” Sun Country CEO Jude Bricker told the Routes Americas conference in Nassau, Bahamas. “I think they hold us to a higher level … I want Delta to be really successful in Minnesota, full stop. We want to be a hub market. I want Fortune 500 companies to headquarter in my hometown, and I want them to be really successful.”

He added that Delta is “not going to let us have a lot of monopoly markets out of Minneapolis, but that isn't necessary for us to be successful.”

Bricker said Sun Country provides value for leisure passengers. Currently, it has 38 Boeing 737-800s operating scheduled passenger service. The aircraft are configured with 186 seats, including 30 premium economy seats at the front of the cabin with 34-in. pitch. The rest of the seats have a 29-in. pitch. All seats have power sources and Wi-Fi-enabled inflight entertainment. The carrier also provides snacks and nonalcoholic beverages at no charge.

“We have a premium economy section which is meant to be better than Delta's basic economy,” Bricker said. “So, the idea is you could go basic economy on Delta or fly Sun Country.”

With an emphasis on seasonality and shifting aircraft around the country throughout the year, Sun Country said it can compete with larger carriers on mainline routes. That is in contrast to newer U.S. carriers Breeze Airways and Avelo Airlines, which fly mostly non-competitive routes.

Sun Country aims to serve “people paying with their own money—VFR, leisure and destination traffic,” Bricker said.

“What we're doing is we're saying, all right, there are these big cities, Dallas to Minneapolis, there's a lot of carriers on the route,” he explained. “There are moments in the calendar where the fares go really high, and we can be in that market for that period of time [offering low fares] … If you take just the largest 30 markets across the U.S., and the connectivity between them, anywhere that there's a leisure component in that market where [passengers are] priced out, then I think we could be in there with some amount of seasonality.”

Sun Country has in recent years been operating out of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) during peak summer months, and Bricker said the carrier can compete on a seasonal basis in markets that “have really high peak summers.”

He added: “That's most markets in the U.S. If it's a big market that has really high peak summer leisure demand, then we can be really successful in that market. And that's what we've been doing at DFW for many years. We want to replicate that across basically every large summer metro area in the U.S. over time.”

The 2024 fourth quarter marked Sun Country’s 10th consecutive quarter of net profitability. The carrier generated $1.08 billion in revenue in 2024, its highest-ever full-year revenue.

Bricker sees the carrier’s cargo business, which operates 737-8 freighter flights under contract with Amazon, as the main source of growth in 2025, with scheduled passenger growth following over the next couple of years.

Noting a high volume of charter flights are also a key component of the airline’s business, Bricker said Sun Country's unique model means it will not likely participate in any U.S. consolidation going forward.

“I think we're going to be a passive participant” if there is consolidation, Bricker said. He added that he is “philosophically pro-consolidation … I think it should happen. Now that the majors had their opportunity, it's time for the lower end of the size spectrum to do it as well … We’re a super weird carrier. It's not the perfect puzzle piece to fit into any other carrier. I think the most likely case is we stay independent.”