Wall Street Hopes There's No Country Like Sun Country

Tiny Sun Country Files to Go Public — During Aviation's Worst-Ever Crisis

Pushing Back: Inside This Issue

The last U.S. mainline carrier to go public was Virgin America in 2014, which, it is safe to say, was a different era. The airline industry then was riding high and would soon start posting record profits. We all know what happened to end that party, resulting in the global suffering of a massive pandemic and the airline industry's worst-ever crisis. So why is Sun Country choosing now for its initial public offering? It's always been different, and there are some compelling arguments for Sun Country to go for it. We dive into the issue in this week's Feature Story.

Elsewhere in this issue, earnings, earnings, and more earnings — and they're all pretty grim. Air Canada is grappling with its home country's ever-stricter public-health measures. Once-and-future wunderkind Copa is continuing its fleet restructuring, even as it bleeds red ink. Spirit, on the other hand, thinks its leisure-focused network stands it in good stead, and Mesa actually made money (thanks to help from Uncle Sam).

Meanwhile, airlines the world over are scrambling to chase whatever traffic may exist by retooling their route networks. Singapore bets on the Boeing 777X. And United plots a more carbon-limited future with electric air taxis.

Verbulence

"No negative comments. No passengers refusing to fly the airplane. It's been like just any other aircraft in our fleet."

Copa CEO Pedro Heilbron when asked if passengers hesitate to fly the airline's Boeing 737 Max aircraft.

Airline Weekly Lounge

The podcast is back! New episodes drop every Thursday and are available here or wherever you get your podcasts. In the most recent episode, Airline Weekly reporters Edward Russell and Madhu Unnikrishnan discuss the week in earnings and why so many airlines are adding new routes like it's going out of fashion.