Sun Country tries expanding its LV business

Wednesday, June 2, 1999 | 11:05 a.m.

Sun Country Airlines' kickoff of scheduled service to Las Vegas is expected to generate more visitors to the city. The question is how many.

Local dignitaries led by Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt greeted Sun Country's inaugural flights from Milwaukee and Detroit Tuesday morning and characters from Luxor and Excalibur joined company president Bill La Macchia Jr. aboard the airline's Minneapolis flight Tuesday night.

La Macchia's father, William E. La Macchia, who owns Milwaukee-based travel packaging giant Mark Travel, Funjet Vacations as well as Sun Country, was a passenger on the flight from Milwaukee that had nearly all of the 170 seats of the Boeing 727 filled.

In addition to one nonstop flight a day to and from Las Vegas to Minneapolis, Milwaukee and Detroit, Sun Country will offer daily nonstop flights to and from Dallas.

In addition to operating 11 three-engine Boeing 727 jets, Sun Country flies four 360-passenger McConnell Douglas DC-10 jumbo jets.

Sun Country has operated as a charter flight provider since the company's start-up in 1983.

In announcing the kickoff of scheduled service, Sun Country said it is projecting 1.4 million passengers to and from Las Vegas, a 30 percent increase for the airline in the Las Vegas market.

But the question is whether Sun Country will generate new passengers or if the scheduled operation will just take customers away from the charter business, which will continue to operate. In 1998, Sun Country flew nearly 1 million passengers to and from Las Vegas on charter flights.

"Consumer buying habits have changed," the senior La Macchia said after arriving in Las Vegas. "In the two years we have owned this airline, we have been looking at how the travel industry is changing. We decided it made more sense to fly seven days a week to destinations like Las Vegas than to just operate charters four days a week."

La Macchia said unlike most air carriers, Sun Country's focus is on leisure markets and leisure travelers. Las Vegas is at the core of Sun Country's business plan because the company knows it can fly full to Las Vegas most of the time if the price is right.

Las Vegas is one of the few cities Sun Country flies with daily service. Other destinations the company serves: Boston, Houston, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Phoenix, San Antonio, Washington, Orlando, Fla.; Anchorage, Alaska; and Aruba in the Antilles Islands.

Sun Country has undercut competitors' prices and offers pricing plans that are unusual in the industry. For example, unlike most carriers, Sun Country offers one-way tickets for half the price of a round-trip ticket. Most will charge nearly as much for a one-way ticket as for a round trip.

A round-trip ticket from Las Vegas to Minneapolis starts at $218 while a similar ticket to Milwaukee starts at $238.

Sun Country's competitors have cut fares to match its ticket prices. Ironically, Sun Country kicked off its scheduled flights and forced lower fares on the same day several airlines raised ticket prices by 4 percent.

The rivalry between Northwest Airlines and Sun Country could ultimately benefit Las Vegas. Northwest's air tour packaging company, MLT, recently added a new Las Vegas package in response to Mark Travel's existing deal, which combines air fare, hotel, ground transportation and some amenities at one price.

Mark Travel, which also arranges tour packages for Southwest Airlines, is the largest tour packager serving Las Vegas and has relationships with most of the major Las Vegas resorts.

Bill Mahaffey, aviation expert at the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, said Sun Country's switch to a scheduled carrier comes at a time when Las Vegas is continuing its efforts to expand the number of airline seats flying in and out of McCarran.

Mahaffey said the carrier is appealing to Las Vegas because it has some flexibility in the number of seats it can provide. If one of the smaller planes is used on a Las Vegas route, for example, Sun Country's schedule has some flexibility in switching planes to the larger DC-10.

Mahaffey also said under current U.S. aviation policy, Sun Country also has the opportunity to add markets that may be underserved. Either type of aircraft the airline operates has the capability of flying long routes.

La Macchia said the airline is poised to move quickly if necessary if a route isn't working as well as forecast. As new planes become available to Sun Country, La Macchia said the airline would evaluate whether it makes more sense to add new destinations or increase frequency to existing routes.