Another airline is entering the Milwaukee market, adding new service at Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport. Sun Country Airlines on Tuesday announced new nonstop service from Mitchell International to five destinations: Minneapolis, Cancun, Las Vegas, Fort Myers, Fla. and Phoenix.
Service to Minneapolis and Las Vegas will launch August 26, with Cancun, Fort Myers and Phoenix beginning in December. One-way fares range from $39 to $179, depending on the destination. The new flights will operate bi-weekly, with the exception of service to Cancun, which will runonce weekly on Saturdays.
Sun Country’s step into the Milwaukee market is part of a larger expansion by the Minneapolis-based low-cost air carrier; it recently added 18 new nonstop routes and nine new airports to its network. All told, Sun Country will soon operate a total of 93 routes across 69 airports in the U.S, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean.
“We know folks are excited to resume traveling, and we’re happy to be able to offer them the opportunity to travel to these destinations with us,” said Grant Whitney, chief revenue officer at Sun Country Airlines. “We’re proud to bring our brand of convenient, affordable travel to Milwaukee. We’re looking forward to welcoming local residents onboard, so they can enjoy the vacations they’ve been dreaming about.”
Las Vegas, Fort Myers, Phoenix and Minneapolis are already served nonstop from Milwaukee by at least one other carrier, but Sun Country’s service will be the only one available for Cancun, according to a news release.
Sun Country is the third major carrier to join MKE this year. Last week, the airport announced JetBlue Airways will begin nonstop service to Boston Logan International Airport and New York/John F. Kennedy International Airport next year. In February, Spirit Airlines announced plans to begin nonstop daily flights from Milwaukee to Orlando, Las Vegas and Los Angeles this summer.
As the travel industry begins to rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic, the ability to secure new carriers and additional routes is the product of ongoing conversations and relationships developed over time, said airport director Brian Dranzik.
“When the time is right like it is now, it helps because (airlines) know what Milwaukee is all about and they have an understanding of what we can offer, and it’s so far been working out really well for us,” said Dranzik.
Sun Country will be the tenth passenger airline serving Mitchell International. The others will include Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Airlines, Frontier Airlines, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines, Spirit and JetBlue.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, passenger traffic at Mitchell International fell 61.9% in 2020 to 2.6 million passengers, down from nearly 6.9 million passengers in 2019. According to the airport’s most recent monthly data, 181,359 passengers used the airport in February, compared to about 501,558 during the same month in 2020.
Members of Sun Country’s rewards program who book one of the new routes before 11:59 p.m. on May 3 will earn two points per dollar on their bookings. These routes are available for purchase now through the airline’s website.
