Sun Country reports profit as scheduled service demand soars

Sun Country Airlines has reported a first-quarter profit as customer demand for its scheduled-service segment grew quickly following an Omicron-driven dip early in the year. “We are very happy to report another profitable quarter,” says CE Jude Bricker. He credits “very strong bookings and unit revenue trends combined with solid cost control”. “These results came despite much higher-than-expected fuel prices and Omicron-driven headwinds earlier in the quarter,” he adds. “Since President’s Day we’ve seen some of the strongest demand in our history.” Total revenue during Q1 rose to $227m from $128m in the same period a year ago. Profit came in at $3.6m, from $12.4m during 2021’s Q1. The company flew 30% more block hours during the three months that ended on 31 March than in pre-coronavirus 2019, which it attributes largely to the addition of the cargo segment in 2020. Capacity as measured in available seat miles (ASMs) grew 6%, with scheduled service ASMs up 10% over 2019 levels. “The difference between the levels of capacity demonstrates the variable nature of the business model,” Sun Country says. “The first quarter is traditionally dominated by heavy leisure demand for vacations, which drove growth in scheduled service capacity.”<br/>