Sun Country Cites Pilot Shortage While Fighting Multimillion-Dollar Pay Award for Training Pilots

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.—Sun Country Airlines is suing the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA) in federal court to void a binding arbitration award that found the company owes premium pay to its instructor pilots, the very same pilots who stayed and took on the added work of training new pilots and first officers becoming captains.

The suit comes as Sun Country has publicly blamed recent route cuts out of Minneapolis-St. Paul on a pilot staffing shortage, with the company's own outgoing CEO saying that the shortage traces to pilots not wanting to relocate outside Minneapolis or become a captain. ALPA has countersued, seeking to enforce the award and secure the pay owed to the affected instructor pilots.

“Sun Country can't have it both ways. It can't claim a pilot and captain shortage while simultaneously fighting a multimillion-dollar award compensating the very instructor pilots who stepped up to train new first officers and captains to ease that shortage,” said Sun Country Master Executive Council (MEC) chair Capt. Sam Larson.

In December 2025, an independent arbitration board ruled that the airline improperly withheld override pay owed to training pilots. The award requires Sun Country to pay affected instructor pilots in back pay and continue the contractually required premium going forward. Sun Country filed suit against ALPA in March, alleging that the arbitration board exceeded its jurisdiction in issuing the award. ALPA’s countersuit seeks to enforce the award and ensure that the affected pilots receive the compensation that they are owed.

Larson added: “Our training pilots continue to assume additional responsibilities to prepare the next generation of Sun Country aviators. The arbitration board ruled in their favor, recognizing their entitlement to compensation withheld by Sun Country. Rather than honoring the ruling, management has chosen to fight its own instructor pilots in federal court, even as it cites a shortage of pilots as a reason for reducing service from Minneapolis.

“This case is straightforward: After reviewing the facts and the collective bargaining agreement, the Board, led by an experienced and highly regarded arbitrator, ruled in favor of our pilots. Sun Country agreed to this binding dispute resolution process when it signed the agreement. It cannot simply walk away from an outcome because management does not like it.”

Founded in 1931, ALPA is the largest airline pilot union in the world and represents more than 80,000 pilots at 42 U.S. and Canadian airlines. Visit ALPA.org or follow us on Twitter @ALPAPilots.

Contact: ALPA Media, 703-481-4440 or Media@alpa.org.