Sun Country Airlines Threatens Shut Down

[question everything]

Source: KSTP

Sun County Airlines' chairman, in an email to a union leader, said the company is “downsizing the airline, for what will need to be its ultimate shut down."

The email is part of an exchange between Sun Country Chairman Marty Davis and Brian Roseen, the head of the union that represents Sun Country pilots.Sun Country has not confirmed the email or its intentions. The two sides have been in difficult negotiations for years.

The potential demise of the airline comes after five years of negotiations with the pilots' union and a strike vote in February. Local union chairman Capt. Dennis Vanatta said in February Sun Country pilots are the lowest-paid Boeing 737 pilots in the U.S.


Read more: http://kstp.com/article/stories/s3789994.shtml

[Initech]

1. Have to say that I side with the pilots and employees on this one.

[cstanleytech]

2. But why exactly? Is that because you believe the company is lying and that it could afford

to make them a better offer or is it for some other reason?

[Roy Rolling]

3. pilot pay

In 2012, first-year pilots at Sun Country earned $28,000/yr. for flying a 737.

[dhill926]

5. that is insanely low....

[question everything]

10. This is what the pilots of that upstate New York crash

were making. They could not afford to live close to the airfield, one of them flew that morning from Seattle.

We put our lives in the hands of these pilots - think about that German one a month ago - and we are "saving" on their compensation? P

Pay the CEO $28K.

[Capt.Rocky300]

4. The company purchased 3 new 737-800s in.....

the last half of 2014. No bank loans that kind of money if the airline is going broke. This is a play from the union busters handbook. Seen it many times before.

[BlueEye]

6. Those aircraft could be operating lease, which is far less risky for the lessor.

Many small airlines tend to lease their jets month-to-month or year-to-year, rather than assume hundreds of millions in long-term liabilities. It's impossible to say for sure with Sun Country since they are privately held and have no public financials. Their parent is a Minnesota counter-top manufacturer called Cambria.

I agree that this is a total union busting ploy though. Ceasing operations is basically the kiss of death in the airlines where short term cash flow is critical, the union should call management's bluff. And $28,000 for a 737 captain should be illegal.

[Omaha Steve]

7. I guess I don't have to add anything to that

Other than the company could open up the books to the union.

[Capt.Rocky300]

8. Sure, but which set of books will they show them?

[SoapBox]

9. This reminds me of...

Last edited Thu May 7, 2015, 11:17 PM - Edit history (1)

When I was at America West Airlines in the early 80's. I was in PHX (not a pilot)...we were working 5 days a week and our pay was $1000 per month (so less taxes like $750-800). We were pretty much broke.

So at a company meeting, someone said that the low pay is why a union would get in...one of the 2 at the top, Conway, just exploded, saying he would never let a $&+^%>€£^ union in...he would shut the company down. They had to drag him away, still screaming.

I do now laugh that both the top guys fucked up America West and the left, each starting another carrier...that each in turn folded. Two time losers.

[geardaddy]

11. Here's the Chairman's Open Secrets file.

https://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/search.php?name=Mark+Davis&cycle=All&sort=R&state=MN&zip=&employ=&cand=&submit=Submit

Republican all the way.