Breeze Airways all set for take-off

Breeze Airways will begin its inaugural service on the 27 May with flights between Charleston, South Carolina; Tampa, Florida; and Hartford, Connecticut. Airline entrepreneur David Neeleman’s latest low-fare startup, unveiled its debut network on 21 May consisting of 39 nonstop routes between 16 cities in the Southwest, Midwest, Southeast, and Eastern US.

“These 16 cities are just the beginning for Breeze,” said Neeleman. “The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the nation’s air service have 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. Flying nonstop, Breeze will get you there in half the time, but also for about half the price.”

Friday’s unveiling marks the start of Neeleman’s fifth airline start-up, after JetBlue, Brazil’s Azul, Canada’s WestJet, and Utah-based Morris Air. Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Breeze will concentrate its flight operations at four main airports: Tampa, Florida; Charleston, South Carolina; New Orleans; and Norfolk, Virginia.

The new airline plans to operate 13 single-class Embraer E-Jets this summer, flying routes with an average flight time of under two hours. Ten E190s jets leased from Nordic Aviation Capital will seat 108 passengers and the three ex-Azul E195s will seat 118.