Laughlin casino operator subsidizing flights

Friday, April 12, 2002 | 11:10 a.m.

The owner of a Laughlin hotel-casino has guaranteed to pay for more than half the seats on the 16 nonstop flights a week Sun Country Airlines is flying between five cities and Laughlin.

Don Laughlin, owner of the Riverside hotel-casino, has signed a subsidy agreement with Minneapolis-based Sun Country, which announced its summer schedule earlier this week. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but an airline spokeswoman said the casino has guaranteed to buy more than half the 168 seats on its twin-engine Boeing 737 jets.

Sun Country also is selling air and hotel packages with the Riverside and the Colorado Belle, Edgewater and River Palms hotel-casinos, which between them have more than 5,000 rooms.

Tammy Lee, a spokeswoman for Sun Country, said Laughlin has developed a strong following because gambling-and-golf packages are less expensive than those offered in Las Vegas. The Laughlin properties like the deal, she said, because customers who fly into the Bullhead City, Ariz., municipal airport serving the Laughlin area spend more than customers who arrive by car or bus.

Sun Country offers scheduled nonstop service to Laughlin from Portland, Ore., Phoenix, San Francisco and Denver and one-stop service from Minneapolis, Seattle and Dallas.

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