The hunger to travel pushed Minneapolis-based Sun Country Airlines to its most profitable spring quarter in six years — with strong demand expected to continue.
"Minneapolis, by far our largest market, has been particularly robust through the COVID recovery," Jude Bricker, chief executive of Sun Country, said during a Friday morning call with analysts.
Bricker, in reporting results Thursday evening after market close, called it "an historically strong second quarter, in what is typically a seasonally weaker quarter for us."
For the second quarter ending June 30, Sun Country reported net income of $21 million compared with a loss of $4 million for the year-ago period.
The leisure carrier reported adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) of 40 cents vs. a loss of 3 cents in the year-ago period. Despite the improvement, investors punished the company's stock Friday, sending it down more than 18%, after missing Wall Street's expected EPS by a penny.
The Twin Cities airline typically sees highest demand for its flights during winter and spring break holidays when Minnesotans flee the winter doldrums. The shoulder seasons — like late spring and early fall — tend to be down periods for Sun Country.
But total operating revenue rose about 19% to $261 million during the April-June period this year. Revenue climbed across the carrier's three core businesses — scheduled passenger service, charter and cargo service for Amazon — the airline said. Meanwhile, the total average fare rose 2.7%, Bricker said.
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