Airline Flies Charters to Stay Aloft

MINNEAPOLIS -- Sun Country Airlines is seeking to stay in business as a charter carrier, but not for the tour brands of Mark Travel Corp.

The brands, Funjet Vacations and TransGlobal Vacations, inked deals to use American Trans Air, Ryan International Airlines and Champion Air to replace Sun Country.

As reported previously, Sun Country suspended scheduled service Dec. 8.

The La Macchia family, which owns both Mark Travel and the airline, is seeking to sell the carrier.

Without the Funjet and TransGlobal accounts, Sun Country said it will focus on operating charter flights for other tour operators, leisure travelers, sports teams and the military.

Funjet and TransGlobal said they are working with travel agents to notify passengers about the change of airlines.

ARC, meanwhile, informed travel agents that it will cease processing Sun Country transactions after the sales period ending Dec. 16, unless it announces a continuation.

Sun Country said it is offering customers holding tickets for canceled flights a full refund or alternate service on other carriers.

As part of its strategy of returning exclusively to a charter operation, Sun Country laid off nearly all of its 900 employees at midnight Dec. 7.

It retained six key managers in order to keep its Transportation Department certification to fly.

It also retained five flight crews to fly Saturday charters.

During the week of Dec. 10, the airline was to bring back 40 employees on a contract basis and planned to bring back more flight crews once it finalized a plan for continued charter service, an airline spokeswoman said.

The action was necessary to meet payroll and limit the airline's liability, according to the spokeswoman.

Sun Country, which started business with one plane and 13 employees in 1983, began scheduled service in 1999 but had trouble competing with Northwest.

"In order to preserve the airline while we continue to meet with investors, we will focus on the strategy that started this airline in 1983 and brought it to immediate profitability: highquality charter flights," said David Banmiller, Sun Country's president and chief executive officer.

"We need to scale the airline back to the level where we can continue to fly through a strong first quarter, secure an investor and then start the process of rebuilding the airline, our flight schedule and bringing back employees."