Sun Country Airlines prioritizes Boeing 737 operators who have a similar approach to scheduled passenger service and hauling freight of the airline's potential combination partners.
This is according to chief financial officer Dave Davis, who appeared to be hinting at the Alaska Air Group, the parent of Alaska Airlines, Hawaii Airlines and local airline Horizon Air, as a potential partner for a Minneapolis-based low-cost carrier.
“I think there are a lot of aspects that fit well with others, but for others, about complex business models, it's probably the freight business,” Davis said at the JPMorgan Industrial Conference on March 11.
“It's unique,” he continues. “Other airlines that carry out charter flying and scheduled services operations will best fit with other carriers scheduled in a similar way.”
“That being said, Alaska just bought Hawaiian, and Hawaiians made a big deal for Amazon, which is something that comes to mind.”
There is no indication that Alaska and Sun Country are engaged in partnership discussions. Sun Country tells Flightglobal that Davis' comments are related to logistics that integrate complex cargo operations and not particularly relevant to joining the Alaska Air Group.
The Alaska Airlines Group signed an agreement to acquire Hawaii last year, and is in the process of consolidating the airline into a single certificate of business.
There could be some synergy with a potential Alaska Sun country combination. Sun Country is increasing its flight cargo on behalf of Amazon and expects to fly a 20-cargo equipped Boeing 737-800 on behalf of retailers by the end of the year.
Alaska has a standalone cargo arm, and before it acquired Hawaiian, it was 737 operators. It operates a fleet of Airbus A330s converted with growing cargo for Amazon.
In addition to its headquarters in Seattle and Honolulu, the Minneapolis Sun Country base will also give Alaska a hub for the central continent, providing narrower body jets in the tighter market of aircraft.
Davis' comments come a few weeks after describing Sun Country as a “Pro-M&A” (referring to mergers and acquisitions) and suggesting multiple “combinations are coming” into the US aviation industry.
After President Donald Trump took office, acquisition talks in the sector increased. However, it remains unclear how such transactions will be affected by weeks of upheaval in the US market and recent bearish comments about the economic situation from American and Delta executives.
This story has been edited to reflect the comments provided by Dave Davis, not Sun Country CEO Judebricker. It has also been changed to add comments for Sun Country.
