Strange Sun Country Flight is Now in Danger of Going Extinct

It was one of the shortest-- and cheapest-- flights out of Minnesota that Sun Country Airlines ever offered. But it might be soon a thing of the past.

It was nearly two years ago that Sun Country Airlines, Minnesota's hometown airline,  announced that it was adding service from the Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport (MSP) to Chippewa Valley Regional Airport in Eau Claire, Wisconsin (EAU). Those flights ran a whopping 21 minutes, a distance of just 85 miles, and were part of a $6.5 million annual grant meant to improve travel in rural America.

The route is an EAS flight (short for 'essential air service') meaning that the FAA helped subsidize the cost of those flights to maintain air service to Eau Claire after other airlines announced they were ending service to western Wisconsin several years ago.

ALSO INTERESTING: MN's MSP Airport Just Topped Another National Survey

Sun Country made that ultra, super, uber-long flight out of the Land of 10,000 Lakes four times a week, as well as offering season service from Eau Claire to places like Orlando, Fort Myers and Las Vegas. When they first started taking bookings, that flight sold for under $10! But it could soon be going away later this fall.

That's because the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal said the Chippewa Valley Regional Airport Commission, which runs the Eau Claire Airport, recently voted instead to recommend that SkyWest Airlines, a regional airline based in Utah, get that federal subsidy to serve Eau Claire.

Get our free mobile app

Axios Twin Cities said that while Sun Country's subsidy is set to expire this November, their proposal to renew was trimmed down to only three flights a week, while SkyWest's proposal would provide 12 flights a week but would fly direct to O'Hare International Airport in Chicago instead of Minneapolis.

The U.S. Department of Transportation is the organization that gets to make the call on just which airline will ultimately get that grant, but a decision isn't expected until later this year.

And if that Sun Country flight DOES end up going away, it won't be the first time, right? And speaking of things that have gone away, keep scrolling to check out some once-popular things from the year you were born that also no longer exist!

Listen to Curt St. John and Samm Adams in the Morning
weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m. on Quick Country 96.5