Unionized pilots with ultra-low-cost carrier Sun Country are looking to open contract negotiations.
In a statement, the Air Line Pilots Association, which represents the pilots, said the leaders of the Sun Country Master Executive Council submitted an official notice to bargain during a meeting last Friday with the airline’s CEO and senior vice president of flight operations.
The pilots’ current contract becomes amendable starting in December.
In a statement released through ALPA, MEC Chair Captain Sam Larson said a new labor agreement is needed because Sun Country has rapidly expanded its freight operations and is generating healthy income.
“Our airline and the industry as a whole have dramatically changed since our last contract was ratified in 2021,” Larson said. “We were coming out of COVID and still predominantly a passenger airline. We need a new agreement that reflects the airline we are now, and raises the standard of our contract in line with improvements secured by other pilot groups.”
Sun Country, which has its headquarters in Minneapolis, began operating cargo flights for Amazon in 2020. The partnership has grown in scope since then, and soon Sun Country will have 20 freighters in service for Amazon Air, alongside its 45 passenger aircraft.
“Management likes to remind us how Sun Country is ‘unique’ in the aviation world because very few airlines have the know-how and capacity to conduct scheduled service, freighter, and charter operations simultaneously,” Larson continued. “We agree – but our current contract doesn’t recognize that uniqueness. We need a contract that is as unique as the flying we do, and working with the company, that is what we plan to achieve.”
ALPA represents over 670 Sun Country pilots.
