Sun Country, a budget airline based out of Minnesota, is now flying into Syracuse’s Hancock International Airport, with a twice-weekly non-stop flight to Minneapolis-St. Paul.
Water Cannons, balloons and cookies welcomed passengers off the first Sun Country flight from Minneapolis to Syracuse Thursday afternoon. Sun Country Senior Director Charles Breer was on the maiden flight.
“So for Minnesotans who want to go on vacation, we're always looking for interesting new places to take them,” Breer said. “And this region of the country is really appealing to Minnesotans who like adventure, summer activities, the Finger Lakes region, wine country. I think it's just a very, very appealing.”
This is Sun Country’s second foray into Upstate New York. It also flies into Buffalo. Syracuse Regional Airport Authority Director Jason Terreri says this is a leisure flight that will complement Syracuse's other daily Minneapolis flight that appeals to business travelers.
"We now have an offering that offers the business traveler a service that they're looking for, but also then the leisure traveler who's looking for that visit family and relatives lower cost option,” Terreri said.
The new airline comes at a time when Hancock is losing Southwest Airlines later this summer. Terreri says there’s no connection between the two.
"Obviously we've lost some of our passenger traffic, but the airlines have already added in service to make up those connections,” he said. “And this flight doesn't really impact that one at all because it's a different flight. The Southwest, there wasn't a lot of connectivity west."
The Sun Country flight schedule is seasonal. Breer said bookings are going well, and the airline has already added some flights for the induction of Minnesota Twins player Joe Mauer into the Baseball Hall of Fame in nearby Cooperstown next month.
Sun Country is the ninth airline to operate regularly scheduled flights out of Syracuse.
