Sun Country Airlines is adding more seasonal lights from Lansing to Orlando, Fla., but is dropping nonstop flights to Las Vegas and Fort Myers, Fla.The schedule change comes a day after the Mendota Heights, Minn.-based airline added Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic to its lineup of seasonal direct flights out of Capital Region International Airport. It also will bring back flights to Cancun, Mexico; and Montego Bay, Jamaica. All three international flights will begin in December.
Sun Country will offer four flights a week to Orlando starting Dec. 21 and running through April 16, 2012. That’s up from two flights a week for the 2010-11 season that began in December and wrapped up in April, and reflects the popularity of the route.Airline spokeswoman Wendy Blackshaw said the Las Vegas route also was popular but Sun Country faced aircraft limitations. Lansing-area travelers will able to flights to Las Vegas year-round but will have to stop in Minneapolis first.
We’re a small fleet so we have to kind of juggle all our flights to make sure we can accommodate everything,Blackshaw said.The Fort Myers flights weren’t as popular, Blackshaw said, and were discontinued.Sun Country’s push into Lansing helped boost Capital Region’s passenger traffic nearly 61 percent during the first quarter that ended in March from a year earlier, to 93,372 travelers.Delta Air Lines Inc. and United Continental Holdings Inc.’s United Airlines also serve the airport. Delta has daily flights to Detroit and Minneapolis, while United flies to O’Hare International Airport in Chicago using commuter carriers.