Iberia (airline) to condone the 150 million dollar debt that Viasa had accumulated to the Spanish carrier in exchange for keeping its fleet composed by four DC-10's and five Boeing 727's. The agreement included a compensation for the staff after the liquidation, which had a cost of 20 million dollars. Regarding Ladeco, Iberia was a minority shareholder (35%) and did not intervene in its management. Initially Iberia had the intention of achieving the merger of Ladeco with Lan Chile, but Chilean antitrust laws prevented it. Later, in 1995, Lan Chile made a major acquisition of Ladeco shares and acquired 57.6% of the
Sun Country Airlines DC-10 in early 2001. In June 1999, the management of Sun Country launched a transformation from a charter carrier into a scheduled airline. New service from Minneapolis and Milwaukee began to destinations including Los Angeles, Seattle, Detroit, Washington, D.C. and Phoenix. The airline also started a frequent flyer program, Smile Awards. In 2001, Sun Country began to replace its entire fleet with Boeing 737 aircraft. As Sun Country reinvented itself, heavy competition from local incumbent carrier Northwest Airlines and the September 11 attacks caused a sharp decrease of traffic and revenue. The airline was losing large amounts of money by