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Sun Country to Offer Service to D.C.: Airline Schedules 1 Flight Each Way

Posted on: Wednesday, 3 May 2006, 18:00 CDT

By Martin J. Moylan, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

May 3--Sun Country Airlines will resume flying to Washington, D.C., on May 22, offering sale fares for as little as $99 each way including taxes and fees.

The Mendota Heights-based carrier will fly to Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia, about 27 miles from the nation's capital.

The service will be seasonal for now, but it could become year-round if the passenger traffic warrants it, said airline spokeswoman Wendy Blackshaw.

"It's been a good route for Sun Country (in the past), and it's a great summer destination," she said. "That's why we decided to fly to it this time of year."

The airline will offer one flight each way Sunday through Friday. There will be no Saturday flights.

Terry Trippler, who follows airfares for cheapseats.com, said it looks like Sun Country's regular fares on the route will range between $110 and $175 each way. Its maximum one-way coach fare on file is $215, Trippler said.

In many cases, Sun Country fares would save travelers a few hundred dollars, given recent pricing on the route, Trippler added.

"Sun Country should do very well in that market," he said. "If they had two flights a day, it would be a slam dunk for Sun Country."

Trippler said Northwest Airlines likely would match Sun Country fares for flights at the same time of day. Indeed, as of Tuesday, Northwest's Web site was offering $199 round-trip fares between the Twin Cities and Dulles for travel later this month. Eagan-based Northwest is the dominant Twin Cities carrier.

Both Northwest and United Airlines provide nonstop service between the Twin Cities and Dulles.

United has two nonstops a day from the Twin Cities to Dulles and one daily nonstop from Dulles to the Twin Cities, the carrier's Web site indicates.

Northwest provides four round-trip flights a day to Dulles, plus service to nearby Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and Baltimore/Washington International Airport.

"Northwest competes on the basis of price, schedule and product," said spokesman Dean Breest. "We believe that we offer Twin Cities travelers a superior choice through our … self-service check-in technology, convenient airport facilities, global reach, and WorldPerks frequent-flier program."

Sun Country's new flights will leave the Twin Cites at 2:40 p.m. and arrive at Dulles at 6 p.m. They'll leave Dulles at about 7 p.m. and arrive in the Twin Cites around 8:30 p.m. The airline will fly 162-seat 737-800s on the route.

Currently from the Twin Cities, Sun Country flies to 13 destinations year-round and 17 on a seasonal basis. The airline is a distant second to Northwest in the Twin Cities market.

In 2005, Sun Country carried 1.6 million passengers, a 30 percent increase over 2004. But without hedges to protect it from soaring crude oil prices, the airline's fuel bill jumped 94 percent, from $32 million to $63 million. Last year, Sun Country lost $11 million on revenue of $204 million.

Martin J. Moylan can be reached at mmoylan@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5479.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

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Source: Saint Paul Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minn.)

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