Come next winter, Phoenix and Fort Myers, Fla. will be just a plane ride away.

Sun Country Airlines announced the two new nonstop connections early Tuesday, ahead of a morning press conference at Rochester International Airport (RST). The two airports will become RST’s fifth and sixth nonstop destinations, joining Chicago O’Hare, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson, and Denver International. Service will run on Thursdays and Sundays to Fort Myers, and on Mondays and Fridays to Phoenix. Both flights will begin service in February 2022.

“We are grateful for Sun Country’s commitment to bring new nonstop routes to Rochester International Airport,” said RST Executive Director John Reed. “Travelers from southeastern Minnesota, northern Iowa and western Wisconsin can all enjoy easy access to two amazing new vacation destinations from RST. We know our region will be thrilled to use these new options.”

Sun Country announced 18 new nonstop routes in all, 10 of those from Minnesota: Duluth will add two new nonstop routes, while MSP will gain six new flights, including places like Turks and Caicos and the Cayman Islands.

For RST, the Sun Country flights mark the first new services announced since nonstop service to Denver debuted in October 2020. Ridership out of RST had been on the rise before the pandemic hit; 2018 and 2019 were the airport’s two busiest years of the past decade by large margins, with 371,615 and 370,851 commercial passengers, respectively.

About 10 commercial flights are now leaving RST daily, airport rep Tiana O’Connor reports, down from a pre-pandemic average of 13. Flights are about 60 percent filled, although the Denver flight has outperformed the average — flights to Denver are at 78 percent capacity.

This is RST’s second test in recent years to offer direct flights to Florida and Arizona — in May 2018, Elite Airways announced it would begin service to Phoenix and St. Augustine, Florida, but scrapped the plans later the same year, citing low bookings.

The Future of the Airport

Tuesday’s news came one day after the Rochester City Council saw the final version of the long-term airport master plan, with consultants from architectural and engineering firm Mead & Hunt laying out the framework for over $300 million in construction projects for the next two decades.

The plan calls for an expansion of the main terminal, adding “several” gates that can accommodate new, larger aircraft, in addition to parking expansions and added space for air cargo.

Meanwhile, initial work on runway improvements is set to begin on May 7 with crews extending Runway 2/20 — the secondary runway — by over 1,600 feet. Once finished, the new taxiway will extend past 90th Street SW, or what once was Minnesota Highway 30.

After years of listening to presentations on the plan, council members were excited to hear a date when shovels could hit the ground for the first time.

“It’s really gratifying to see the May 7 date out there,” said Council Member Patrick Keane. “This has been a big undertaking over many years, to get to the point of having a working plan and a funded plan for our runways.”

The plan will now head to a future council meeting for final approval.

Isaac Jahns is a Rochester native and a 2019 graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism. He reports on politics, business and music for Med City Beat.

Cover photo: Tony Webster / Flickr