Sun Country restores employee wages

St. Paul, Minn. — Sun Country Airlines says it's restoring employee wages that were cut as much as 70 percent as the carrier fell into bankruptcy.

The airline says most of the wage reductions will be reversed immediately, and a wage increase next month will make up for voluntary pay cuts airline employees took in early 2008, before the airline entered bankruptcy. That will return workers to full pay.

CEO Stan Gadek says the airline has also secured a line of credit that will get Sun Country through periods when its bookings, and revenue, fall off.

"Customers should be confident booking on Sun Country. This was was the last piece in the foundation to get the company going on a stable footing," said Gadek. "We now have the wherewithal to continue operating going forward.

This winter, the Mendota Heights-based airline will operate up to 35 daily flights and serve 18 markets from the Twin Cities.

Sun Country suffered a painful financial squeeze when it found it could no longer count on loans from its former parent company, Petters Group Worldwide.

That firm's one-time CEO, Tom Petters, is now at the center of a multi-billion-dollar criminal fraud investigation.