Release # 01.86
August 30, 2001

MINNEAPOLIS, MN -- Sun Country Airlines pilots, who are represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, International, will conduct informational picketing Friday, August 31, 2001 at the new Hubert H. Humphrey Terminal at Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport to mark the one year anniversary of their contract’s amendable date.

Sun Country ALPA pilots and management entered negotiations in May 2000, and after five months of talks and a failed effort in private mediation, the pilots requested the intervention of the National Mediation Board (NMB) in November.

Pilots at the Minnesota-based airline are seeking long overdue improvements in pay and retirement. Since 1992, the Sun Country pilots' pay has risen only 4% - or less than 1/2% per year. Furthermore, the Sun Country pilots are asking for a real retirement plan -not the current ¼ of one percent based on a maximum of 5% of annual income.

"The contract we signed in 1998 ended one year ago," said Capt. George Barbes, Chairman of the Sun Country ALPA unit. "The professional pilots at Sun Country Airlines are not satisfied to watch their counterparts at other airlines reach timely and realistic agreements while we mark our one year anniversary without a current agreement. It is time to put realistic pay and retirement on the table and let us get on with the business of flying for the best airline customers around."

Sun Country pilots’ informational picketing will be held on the sidewalk in front of the new Hubert H. Humphrey Terminal at Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport as follows:

Friday, August 31, 2001 – 6:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. CDT

Headquartered in Mendota Heights, Minn., Sun Country’s 270 pilots provide charter and scheduled service in the United States and abroad and are transitioning to an all new fleet of Boeing next generation 737s.

Formed in 1931, ALPA is the world’s oldest and largest pilots union, representing 59,000 airline pilots at 49 carriers in the United States and Canada.

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 ALPA Contacts: Stacy Platone, 703-481-4440

Rick Herman, 651-336-9012 (available on-site in Minneapolis)