tl;dr – This link-up could, low-key create some interesting routes.
Minnesota-based Sun Country Airlines and Nevada (Las Vegas)-based Allegiant Air have announced a merger today. Specifically, the deal is Allegiant acquiring Sun Country for $1.5 billion.
According to Sun Country’s post on LinkedIn, the “combined airline will serve 22 million annual passengers with service to nearly 175 cities and more than 650 routes, with a fleet of 195 aircraft—including increasing service from MSP to destinations where Allegiant has a presence. We’ll also continue growing our charter and cargo businesses while maintaining our significant operations and local presence in Minneapolis-St. Paul.”
The transaction is expected to close in the second half of this year.
This is decently interesting – both Sun Country and Allegiant are bona fide regional carriers that have slowly (but surely) expanded their route maps over the years. Allegiant excels by flying out of leisure hubs, such as Vegas, Nashville, and Orlando (as well as various other Florida cities), while also focusing on niche markets like the Mountain West. Sun Country wins over a portion of the “Midwest Snowbirds,” operating flights from Minneapolis St. Paul to tropical destinations like Mexico (Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, Cabo), the Caribbean (Aruba, Punta Cana, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, St. Maarten, USVI), and Central America (Belize, Costa Rica, Honduras), as well as several US cities. With a combined operating charter, there could be some (welcome, in my opinion) increased competition to many of those destinations. In particular, I’m interested in more of the Caribbean Islands and Central America as opposed to Mexico. Crossing Sun Country’s international routes and experience with Allegiant’s presence in Las Vegas and Phoenix could be especially clutch, as traditionally there haven’t been a ton (though it’s admittedly gotten better) of great routes from the western US to the Caribbean and Central America.
As far as current fleets, here’s the rundown:
Allegiant:
Airbus A319-100 X 31
Airbus A320-200 X 84 (9 were said to be retired by the end of 2025.)
Boeing 737 MAX 7 and Boeing 737 MAX 200 X 24 (with an option for 80 additional aircraft)
Sun Country:
Boeing 737-800 X 44 (1 of these is VIP charter configuration.)
Boeing 737-900ER X 2 (3 are on order.)
Boeing 737-800BCF x 20
As far as loyalty, there are Sun Country Rewards and Allegiant’s Allways Rewards. Allegiant recently got the white-labeled RocketMiles treatment from Agoda, and I have to believe that talks for this deal were well underway at that point, so perhaps that’s a sign that the combined entity will roll out a modern loyalty that’ll surprise us all.
