A tribute to our past: Bringing back our 1994 livery
On May 13, a familiar piece of Sun Country history came home to Minneapolis.
This special retro livery is inspired by the design that first appeared on Sun Country aircraft in 1994. Employees left their desks and fans lined the runway to welcome her home.
The paint job was familiar. The story behind it goes back even further.
Sun Country started with a small group of people willing to roll up their sleeves and build an airline from the ground up. More than four decades later, thousands of employees have carried that same spirit forward through every chapter along the way.
A nod to one of our founders
This livery also carries a small tribute to Jim Olsen, pilot, co-founder, and the airline’s first president, who passed away in April 2026.
Jim and his fellow founders built Sun Country in the most literal sense. Uniforms were hand-sewn. Flights were catered with wholesale goods. Every Tuesday, the same crews flying the aircraft cleaned them, too.
It was hands-on, resourceful, and decidedly unfussy. And it helped shape the airline we would become.
Near the boarding door, a dedication decal honors Jim with one particularly meaningful detail: his signature. Not a recreation or a lookalike, but the very same one Jim put on Sun Country’s founding paperwork more than 40 years ago. Now, it flies with us.
More than a paint scheme
Bringing the retro livery back took teams from across Sun Country working together behind the scenes. When she finally touched down at MSP, employees, aviation enthusiasts, and members of the community were there to welcome her home.
And the timing feels fitting. As we begin our next chapter with Allegiant, we'll carry a piece of where we started into the future.
