CEO Jude Bricker said the airline isn’t struggling with retention and hasn’t had a pilot leave in months.
A Sun Country Boeing 737-800 (Photo: Shutterstock | Natmac Stock)
Sun Country CEO Jude Bricker said there are several reasons to feel bullish about the Minneapolis-based low-cost carrier, but perhaps the most critical is that the pilot shortage – which seriously challenged the airline industry in the years since the COVID-19 pandemic, is now a thing of the past.
“We spent a lot of time talking about the pilot shortage,” Bricker said during Sun Country’s quarterly earnings call. “That’s over. A pilot hasn’t left Sun Country in, like, 90 days. So that’s just not an issue anymore.”
He noted the carrier had struggled moving junior pilots into senior positions, mainly due to quality of life reasons, but is now “doing a lot of things to improve that.”
Bricker’s comments are largely consistent with a slowdown in pilot hiring across the commercial airline industry as major carriers near or meet their hiring goals.
There was a dramatic pilot shortage in the years immediately following the pandemic as demand for air travel surged. Because many pilots had retired or left the industry, airlines upped pay and benefits to lure in new hires.
Five years on though, the industry seems to have reached a balance. Many empty vacancies were filled, and airlines are more cautious. At the same time, delays in the delivery of new aircraft from Boeing and Airbus mean most carriers are growing their fleets more slowly than expected, and do not need the number of pilots they once projected.
Some airlines reported a decrease in hiring of up to 40% in 2024 compared to 2023.
Asked about fluctuations in demand due to uncertainty in the global economy, Bricker said Sun Country is flexible enough to navigate those changes due to its business model.
“If you think about volatility going forward, if demand falls, we’re going to try to maintain our margins by cutting our weakest flights,” he said. “So absolute profitability may suffer, but we’ll deliver the margins that you expect.”
Sun Country finished the first quarter with revenue of $326.6 million, up from $311.4 million in the corresponding quarter in 2024. Net income grew from $35.3 million to $36.5 million over the same period.
Sun Country is a diversified carrier, with scheduled service, charter, and cargo operations. Resources such as flight crews are moved across those business lines to optimize capacity, mitigate seasonality, and improve efficiency, the company says.
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