Sun Country Airlines operates about 45 flights a day at Minneapolis–Saint Paul International. In February, the airline announced it was outsourcing its ground operations at the airport to Canadian company, Global Aviation Services, which saw 350 Sun Country workers laid off.
Dismissed employees, which included ticket counter agents, ground operatives and cargo handlers, were able to re-apply for their jobs with Global Aviation Services, who took over ground handling operations for the airline on May 1.
Just two months later, however, Global Aviation cancelled its contract with Sun Country. Says Global Aviation CEO, Carm Borg, "We gave them notice and asked them to find another ground handler." The contract with Sun Country had reportedly been Global Aviation Services’ largest ground handling deal.
The termination of the contract has seen Sun Country re-hire ground workers to keep operations going. "We don't have a definite number of how many seasonal workers we will hire, as we are still assessing the need, but we are actively recruiting," a spokeswoman for the airline said.
"It is not the customer-service level passengers deserve from us," the spokeswoman continued. "We are going to do whatever we can to apologise, and hope that they'll be patient with us. We are committed to fixing it."
It has been suggested that Global Aviation couldn't hire workers quickly enough to ensure smooth operations at the airport.
The airline hopes to find another contractor by the autumn.
