Minneapolis/St. Paul Airlines, Airport To See Growth

<B> Minneapolis/St. Paul Airlines, Airport To See Growth</B>

By Robert Selwitz

As of June 1, getting to and from Minneapolis/St. Paul will become much less expensive for travelers opting to fly Sun Country Airlines. Long a charter service serving warm weather vacation spots, Twin Cities-based Sun Country is adding a scheduled service that will journey to 16 cities, 11 on a daily basis.

According to Paul Miller, vice president of marketing and planning for the airline, the new flights are just the antidote business travelers need to counter high airfares and the infamous Saturday night stayover.

Like most hub cities, Northwest Airlines operates an overwhelming portion of Minneapolis/St. Paul flights, Miller said, so high fares and onerous restrictions long have been an accepted part of the local air travel scene. That, he hopes, will change when Sun Country commences service to Anchorage, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Detroit, Ft. Lauderdale, Ft. Myers, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, New York JFK, Phoenix, St. Louis, San Francisco and Washington Dulles.

Best of all, "the lowest fares are available for two days in advance purchase. And those two days do not have to include a Saturday. In fact, with Sun Country, there's no need for anyone to stay away from their family on weekends, bunking in at a distant motel in order to save their company hundreds of dollars."

For a fare example, Miller said, two day in advance tickets between the Twin Cities and New York cost $139 each way. And walk-up tickets cost $209.

Also convenient, Miller said, is that "we have the exclusive use of four gates at the compact HHH Terminal. That facility is much easier to cope with than the much larger Lindbergh. You can park right outside HHH, and walk a very short distance to the entry. Furthermore, airline gates are just 50 feet from the terminal entrance."

Miller also emphasized that Sun Country is a single class carrier, and its 11 727s and four DC-10s feature a pitch range of 31 to 35 inches. And "we serve a warm meal on almost every flight."

The HHH Terminal where Sun Country is based, also is undergoing major upgrading, part of a massive $2.2 billion facility-wide renovation program at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Ultimately, under the plan, a brand new HHH will offer up to 18 gates, part of a strategy to boost total airport handling capacity from the 30.3 million served in 1998 to 38 million by 2010.

At the main Lindbergh terminal, plans call for up to a dozen new jet gates and a regional concourse, with spaces for 29 regional aircraft. Work also is scheduled to create an additional 20,000 square feet of meeting space in six rooms. And new business centers with computers, copiers, printers and fax machines eventually will be installed in three of the airport's four concourses.

Also under construction at the airport is a new nine-level parking facility on the east side of the current general parking ramp. The first three floors will accommodate the auto rental service center, and an automated shuttle will connect the new parking and rental facility to the main terminal by the year 2000.

On the airfield itself, reconstruction continues on the 50-year-old south parallel runway, and a new north-south runway will be built, adding approximately 25 percent greater capacity. When completed, the new runway is expected to reduce significantly both traffic congestion and traveler delays.