Travel

Our wish list for MSP destinations in the Sun Country-Allegiant merger

The proposed merger means more air destinations for Minneapolis-St. Paul. Here’s where we’d like to fly.

By Simon Peter Groebner

The Minnesota Star Tribune

January 12, 2026 at 12:00PM

A picturesque Asheville, N.C., neighborhood in autumn. (Rod Gimenez/Tribune News Service)

On Sunday, Sun Country Airlines and Allegiant Air surprise-announced plans for a $1.5 billion merger, which would result in one bigger, badder low-cost carrier.

Sun Country is the 44-year-old, Minnesota-based leisure flyer that has taken its lumps in the past few years but still maintains an impressive lineup of tropical vacation destinations from Minneapolis-St. Paul, forcing behemoth Delta Air Lines to compete on service and fare. It would be sad to lose a longtime Minnesota brand.

Allegiant, on the other hand, is a cheap and cheerful all-domestic airline based in Las Vegas. I’ve flown it just once and found the plane spanking new but compact inside, the service earnest but green, and the fares rock-bottom. Until now a bit player at MSP, Allegiant had previously announced it was leaving our market in August 2025.

So what does a merger mean for travelers? In a marketing email, Sun Country promises more choices, with a combined 175 cities and 650 routes. “We expect to add even more routes from Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport to smaller destinations where Allegiant offers flights,” Sun Country writes.

There’s no way of predicting what that might entail, but here are some of our wishes for new and restored routes from MSP — based on Allegiant’s current map.

A mural of Dolly Parton and RuPaul by Gus Cutty graces the Beauty Parade salon in West Asheville, N.C. (Simon Peter Groebner/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Asheville, N.C.: I took Allegiant to this Carolina mountain town in fall 2023, and the fare ($223) was about half of what Delta was charging. We’d love to see competitive year-round service again. It’s a spectacular getaway city, with famous breweries, the gilded Biltmore Estate, fall colors on the Blue Ridge Parkway, and even a museum devoted to the trippy Moog synthesizer. And it deserves the support while still recovering from the freak flooding of 2024’s Hurricane Helene.

Tourists pose for photos at the Southernmost Point in Key West, Fla. (Scott McIntyre/The New York Times)

Key West, Fla.: Minnesotans are pretty Florida’d up come wintertime, but one Sunshine State destination we don’t have is Key West, the idyllic terminus of the Florida Keys and the southernmost point of the continental United States. Come for the water sports and Cuban cuisine, stay for the history, including Ernest Hemingway’s colonial manse and President Harry Truman’s winter home.

Punta Gorda, Fla.: When Allegiant did connect MSP to this unassuming Florida berg, it was a stealthy discount option for getting to popular Fort Myers nearby. You could hit Twins spring training, miles of beaches and all the continuous seafood with just an additional 30-mile drive in a rental car. (Allegiant does already fly there from St. Cloud’s Sky Central Airport.)

Morning at the Harbor View Inn in Santa Barbara, Calif. (Simon Peter Groebner/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Santa Maria, Calif.: Allegiant has a knack for tiny regional airports outside of the big cities (like St. Cloud), and we’d definitely like to fly nonstop to Santa Maria Public Airport, which serves both the posh California beach town of Santa Barbara to the south, and the windswept, relatively remote Central Coast to the north. Hearst Castle, anyone?

The view from the rocky side of Sand Beach at Acadia National Park. (Simon Peter Groebner/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Bangor, Maine: As long as we’re dreaming, how about a flight to Allegiant’s frequent haunt of Bangor International? It’s a short drive to the justifiably popular Acadia National Park on the Atlantic coast. Take the express tour via Park Loop Road, or immerse yourself for days in the park’s islands, trails, mountains and lakes. Or just zone out in the party town of Bar Harbor and the rugged Down East coast.