Sun Country launches seasonal flights between Melbourne and frigid Minneapolis-St. Paul
Phones in hand, passengers heading to frosty Minnesota lined the wall of windows at Gate 7, shooting photos and video of Sun Country Airlines' inaugural seasonal flight Friday receiving a water cannon salute from fire trucks at Melbourne Orlando International Airport.
Sun Country Flight 769 touched down at 10:34 a.m. Friday, launching the low-cost carrier's new nonstop seasonal flights linking Melbourne with Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
Weather conditions that hour in the Twin Cities? Minus-8 degrees. Wind chill? Minus-23, the National Weather Service reported.
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"This flight that's coming in is almost entirely full," said Greg Donovan, airport executive director, standing near Gate 7.
"Sun Country's going to look at the route based upon demand. If this does well consistently, they'll add more frequency and extend the timeframe that they're flying," Donovan said.
Flights will arrive and depart twice weekly, on Fridays and Mondays, through April 28.
Headquartered at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport, Sun Country flies a fleet of Boeing 737s. Including Melbourne, the airline now serves 12 Florida cities.
“Minnesotans travel to Florida more than any other state in the winter,” Sun Country Chief Revenue Officer Grant Whitney said in an October press release announcing service in Melbourne.
As of November, Sun Country operated 120 routes serving more than 90 airports across the United States, Mexico, Central America, Canada and the Caribbean.
Last week, Melbourne airport officials unveiled a $72 million, 86,000-square-foot passenger terminal expansion and renovation that created gate infrastructure large enough to accommodate TUI's Boeing 787 Dreamliners. Gate 7 is located within this expansion area.
An orange-and-blue balloon archway greeted Sun Country passengers, along with frosted cookies and a meticulously detailed custom cake decorated like a suitcase.
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Jetlines, a Canadian airline, will launch twice-weekly nonstop service from Melbourne to Toronto Pearson International Airport starting Feb. 16.
Allegiant offers twice-weekly nonstop service from Melbourne to Pittsburgh and Nashville. A third route to Concord, North Carolina, has been eliminated. Donovan said the airline has shifted some of its resources from Concord to other cities.
"Pittsburgh's been doing extremely well. Nashville's been doing well, but I think there's always an issue when you start a new air service in making sure people are aware of it," Donovan said. Airport officials are working to better promote the Nashville flights, he said.
Donovan said he hopes his airport's proximity to the USSSA Space Coast Complex in Viera will attract Minneapolis-St. Paul teams to Sun Country flights to compete in softball and baseball tournaments.
A second Sun Country plane was on the ground Friday at the Melbourne airport: a 1:05 p.m. casino charter flight to Gulfport-Biloxi, Mississippi. Donovan said the company has operated casino charters from MLB for years.
Donovan said TUI will resume its holiday-season flights the third week of March, bringing tourists from the United Kingdom to East Central Florida. TUI should ramp up to full service capacity by mid-May.
Rick Neale is the South Brevard Watchdog Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY (for more of his stories, click here.) Contact Neale at 321-242-3638 or rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @RickNeale1
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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Sun Country flights start between MLB in Florida and MSP in Minnesota
