Sun Country: Inside America’s Most Unusual Airline

After Jude Bricker took over as CEO of Sun Country Airlines in mid-2017, he figured it would be an easy turnaround. He was leading a quixotic, perennially underperforming airline owned by two brothers — pillars of the Minneapolis/St. Paul community for their quartz countertop and dairy businesses — with no airline experience. Bricker, who had spent more than a decade at Allegiant Air, would add more economy seats, cut first class, institute fees for carry-on bags, retire smaller, less cost-effective jets, change the loyalty program, switch from employees to contractors for ground operations and buy airplanes, rather than pay the astronomical lease rates previous management negotiated. He'd also expand beyond Minneapolis, sending aircraft on any routes he thought could make money. Most of it was from from a classic playbook, successfully implemented by low-cost airlines worldwide, including Spirit Airlines, Frontier Airlines, and Ryanair. At first, customers may complain, but