After a month-long delay to analyze potential impacts should Sun Country Airlines downsize or discontinue operations, the MAC board on Monday voted to move forward with the planned three-gate expansion of Terminal 2-Humphrey.
The delay was initiated following comments by Sun Country's owners that the airline could downsize and ultimately shut down if an acceptable labor agreement cannot be reached with its pilots, who have been in negotiations with the carrier for five years.
At Monday's meeting, MAC Vice President – Planning, Development and Environment Gary Warren presented a range of facts supporting staff's recommendation to move forward with the improvements despite the uncertainty at Sun Country:
- Sun Country Airlines has had three owners and two bankruptcies in its 33 years of operation but has demonstrated tremendous staying power amidst adversity
- In the first five months of 2015, Sun Country's passenger levels were up more than 18 percent year over year, and the airline has communicated plans to add two additional aircraft this fall
- In the unlikely event Sun Country should reduce or eliminate operations, the vast majority of its customers would likely continue to fly and simply shift their business to other MSP airlines
- Based on planning forecasts, it's not a question of if but when the three new gates would be fully utilized, regardless of Sun Country's fate
Vice president – Finance and Administration Steve Busch added that, while it's typical for new airport gates to operate at a loss initially until they are fully utilized, staff is confident the new gates will ultimately operate on a break-even basis, financially.
Captain Brian Rosene, a Sun Country pilot since 1988 and chairman of the Sun Country Master Executive Council of the Airline Pilots Association, also addressed the board, noting that labor negotiations are subject to scheduling by the National Mediation Board and that pilots see Sun Country's growth plans as a positive sign.
On a majority vote, the board then awarded the contract for the $27.5 million expansion project to low bidder Knutson Construction Services. The project will include three new gate holds, four passenger boarding bridges, additional terminal amenities and the airport's first "green" roof.
Construction will commence in the next few weeks and be completed in the fall of 2016.
