Sun Country Airlines (SY, Minneapolis St. Paul International) has started laying off around 350 ground staff at Minneapolis St. Paul International, or a fifth of its total workforce at the airport, AP has reported.

The airline is seeking to trim its headcount with layoffs announced among employees at ticket counters, PRM assistance, and other units. Sun Country Airlines intends to outsource these tasks to Global Aviation Services and has announced it will allow its staff to reapply for positions with the subcontractor immediately.

The move is part of an efficiency drive at the leisure specialist after the company was acquired by a New York-based equity fund Apollo Global Management for an undisclosed sum in December 2017. Although Sun Country Airlines is reportedly profitable, the carrier's margins have been well below the industry average, the Star Tribune reported in December. The acquisition is seen as an opportunity to grow and restructure the airline in a bid to boost profits.

According to the ch-aviation capacity module, Sun Country Airlines operates 237 weekly departures out of Minneapolis/St. Paul, mainly to leisure destinations such as Las Vegas Harry Reid, Fort Myers Southwest Florida, Cancún, and Orlando International. It operates a fleet of six B737-700s and twenty B737-800s.