Sun Country opens pilot base in Cincinnati to support its cargo business with Amazon

Minnesota-based Sun Country Airlines is opening an operations base and hiring pilots in Cincinnati for cargo flights.

The airline said Tuesday that the expanded operations at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) would support its standing partnership with online retail giant Amazon, which operates a major air cargo hub and sorting facility there.

“Growing our footprint beyond Minneapolis-St. Paul has long been a goal for Sun Country, and we are excited to mark this major milestone,” CEO Jude Bricker said in a statement Tuesday announcing the development.

Sun Country wants to open the base with 30 pilots, and it is unclear whether any will be forced to relocate there from MSP. The airline wants to avoid displacing any of its pilots though it remains a possibility, said Sam Larson, a Sun Country pilot and spokesman for the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA).

Known to most Minnesota air travelers as the local leisure airline, Sun Country has invested heavily in building up its cargo business, which is the shuttling of goods or merchandise for other companies or organizations.

The airline leaned into the freight business and scaled down its passenger flying while its competitors contended with some lowering demand for domestic air travel this year.

The base is expected to open Jan. 31. It is believed to be Sun Country’s first pilot base outside Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP), according to the airline. Sun Country has flight attendant bases in Mississippi and Nevada.

In 2019, the airline took steps to create one at Portland International Airport (PDX). The effort was meant to support the airline’s expanded passenger service schedule to Portland, Ore., Dallas-Fort Worth and Nashville, among other cities. It fizzled because Sun Country and the pilots union failed to reach an agreement.

Sun Country is starting at CVG with 15 two-person flight crews — a captain and first officer — with the goal of 45 crews, or 90 pilots, including some serving in a reserve capacity. The airline currently has eight maintenance staff there.

Eric Levenhagen, Sun Country’s senior vice president of flight operations, said in an interview Tuesday that the new base would help ensure smooth operations and bolster its partnership with Amazon. He said MSP is still growing and the core of passenger and scheduled service remains in Minnesota.

“We’re not subtracting or moving pilot flying. We’ll see this create new opportunities as the airline continues to grow,” he said.

The new base is launching after the union representing Sun Country’s pilots negotiated with the airline for some added benefits.

Most of Sun Country’s pilots live locally, Larson said, and some are feeling apprehensive about moving to Kentucky for work. The airline agreed to most of the requests up front, he added, though the process did go to arbitration. It wrapped up in late October, with some additional expense reimbursement, like moving costs, added to the collective bargaining agreement.

Larson said Sun Country still faces some constraints with having enough captains, the most experienced pilots, which is a limiting factor for the airline’s growth. It remains to be seen if a base in Cincinnati will help fill those jobs.

Henry Harteveldt, an air travel industry analyst, said the move to open the base shows clearly the business relationship between Sun Country and Amazon is going well. Setting up an operations base there makes sense for the airline and the pilots flying cargo for Amazon there, he said.

How that influences the business also remains to be seen.

Harteveldt said the diverse revenue stream at Sun Country allows the airline more options to make money than peers like Spirit or Frontier, which are solely focused on selling passenger seats at a rock-bottom price.