New Airline Breeze Airways Readies For Flights, Reveals Initial Routes

Breeze Airways revealed its debut network, which includes 39 nonstop routes. The new low-cost airline’s inaugural flights will run between Hartford, Conn.; Tampa, Florida; and Charleston, South Carolina beginning in late May, according to a Friday (May 21) announcement, which noted that the rest of the destinations will be added weekly through July 22.

“The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the nation’s air service has meant many secondary markets and smaller cities have seen a significant reduction in flights. There are so many city pairs needing nonstop service around the country, we have a further 100 cities under consideration,” Breeze Airways Founder David Neeleman said in the announcement.

Neeleman is an aviation industry veteran and Breeze is his fifth airline startup. The others include JetBlue, WestJet in Canada, Azul in Brazil, and Utah-headquartered Morris Air, which Southwest Airlines later acquired. Breeze, which is based in Salt Lake City, Utah, will concentrate most trips from Norfolk, Virginia; New Orleans, Louisiana; Charleston; and Tampa.

Breeze passengers will travel on 13 single-class Embraer airplanes in the summer of 2021, and they will travel on routes whose average flight length is below two hours. Every Embraer plane will have a two-by-two seat configuration. As a result, the planes will not have any middle seats. The airline will later begin taking delivery of 60 new Airbus A220 airplanes.

Breeze Airways noted that its introductory fares are as low as $39, while there are “no change or cancellation fees.” In addition, the airline noted that guests can receive credit through “BreezePoints” on every purchase that can be harnessed for a trip at a later point in time or ancillary offerings like seat assignments and bags.

“Guests can change or cancel a flight up to 15 minutes before scheduled departure without penalty,” according to the announcement.

In separate aviation industry news, Uplift created a new partnership with Southwest Airlines, which is the 16th air carrier to join forces with the buy now, pay later (BNPL) provider.