Breeze Airways doubles down on what it knows works best. And then a little.
The upstart budget airline will triple its flights to Florida this winter compared to last year, and expects to operate a total of 1,402 flights to and from Florida, connecting 51 city pairs.
The airline also plans to add flights from the airport’s newest city: Plattsburgh International Airport (PBG), near Montreal along the Canadian border, to Orlando International Airport (MCO). Breeze will also add a biweekly flight from Portland International Jetport (PWM) in Maine to Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW) in Fort Myers. Breeze introduced flights from Portland last May with flights to Tampa International Airport (TPA) and Orlando.
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There are a total of 19 new and returning routes, generally connecting cities in the northern two-thirds of the country to Florida. The notable exception: a flight from Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY) to Fort Myers.
A full list of the routes can be found at the bottom of this article.
“We really focus on the seasons,” David Neeleman, the airline’s founder, told TPG in an interview. “It’s a pivot to Florida for the winter, and you’ll see it come back again in the summer.”
Neeleman, best known for founding New York-based JetBlue, noted that the airline’s flexibility and dynamism allow it to shift its network based on expected demand and seasonality, even more so than traditional airlines.
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“That is the advantage we have over just regular scheduled carriers,” says Neeleman. “We would prefer to fly what people want to fly.”
Breeze launched in 2021 with a point-to-point business model, eschewing hubs in favor of point-to-point flying between city pairs that don’t have competing non-stop service.
The airline began operating short flights of less than two hours with a fleet of Embraer jets leased from Brazil’s Azul Airlines, which Neeleman also founded. The airline has since added the Airbus A220 to its fleet, which has the range to connect two cities in the continental US, allowing Breeze to expand and operate longer-distance routes between smaller airports.
Read more: Neeleman’s new airline Breeze will use a ‘see how it goes’ approach to succeed. And business class – eventually
The business model and ability to shift large amounts of its capacity is helping the airline even as larger airlines predict a slowdown in domestic travel demand, or at least pricing power.
“It allows us to realize higher returns, especially in times of domestic weakness,” Neeleman said.
Plattsburgh in particular allows Breeze to capitalize on demand from Montreal for warmer spots in Florida, without having to sidestep the complications of setting up a retail outlet in Canada itself. The processing of international currencies entails, among other things, logistical challenges.
Instead, Canadians can book tickets from Plattsburgh and cross the U.S. border by land.
Seating chart, please: check first and where to sit when flying on Breeze Airways’ Embraer jets
“Being close to the border in Plattsburgh and having people drive there is a preferable route,” Neeleman said.
That’s not to say Breeze isn’t interested in flying internationally. Rather, Neeleman said the airline plans to launch flights to the Caribbean and Mexico this spring.
“We’ve been working with the FAA to get our approval,” Neeleman said, “and so we should have that hopefully by the end of the year.”
“And so you will see some of the international flights starting in the spring and next summer,” he added.
TPG reported that Breeze was exploring the possibility of international flights in February 2022, as the airline prepared to launch its first A220 routes. At the time, the airline’s Chief Operating Officer Lukas Johnson told TPG that the airline would focus on passengers from the US, which could be a sustainable model for US-Caribbean routes.
Neeleman confirmed on Monday that this is still the case.
A new look: Breeze has a new, more economical Airbus A220 configuration
“It would come from the US, mainly to places that people in the US like to go,” he said.
He hinted at the possibility of flying further afield, within the limits of demand from US-based passengers.
“We fly an aircraft that can fly long distances,” he said. “That’s one of the reasons we bought the A220, so it can fly more than 3,000 kilometers.”
But that’s all in the future for Breeze. This winter, Florida is what it’s all about.
New and returning Breeze routes to Florida
- Portland, Maine-Orlando (started September 6)
- Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina-Tampa (started September 7)
- New Orleans-Orlando (starts September 22)
- Charleston, West Virginia-Tampa (starts October 4)
- Pittsburgh-Tampa (starts October 5)
- Columbus, Ohio-Tampa (starts October 6)
- New Orleans-Fort Myers (starts November 2)
- Norfolk, Virginia-Fort Myers (starts November 2)
- Providence-Vero Beach, Florida (starts November 2)
- Providence-Jacksonville, Florida (starts November 3)
- Pittsburgh-Fort Myers (starts November 15)
- Portland, Maine-Fort Myers (starts November 15)
- Richmond, Virginia-Fort Myers (starts November 15)
- Akron-Canton, Ohio-Fort Myers (starts November 16)
- Columbus-Fort Myers (starts November 16)
- Louisville, Kentucky-Fort Myers (starts November 16)
- Raleigh-Durham-Fort Myers (starts November 17)
- Syracuse, New York-Fort Myers (starts November 17)
- Plattsburgh-Orlando (starts November 28)