Update: Breeze Airways has now launched, and you can find the full details here.
Breeze Airways is an airline startup that should be putting flights on sale any day now. The man behind the airline is David Neeleman, who is also the founder of JetBlue. The airline will initially fly Embraer 190/195 aircraft, and will then eventually fly Airbus A220s.
Even though there has been talk of the airline for a long time and we’ve learned some details, up until now we haven’t officially known any of the routes that the airline will fly. That has now changed.
In this post:
Breeze’s first route will be Tampa to Charleston
We’ve finally learned a bit more about what we can expect from Breeze Airways’ route network when the airline launches:
- Breeze will initially fly 49 nonstop routes
- Breeze will initially serve 15 cities
- Breeze’s first route will be Tampa to Charleston
- Other launch cities include Nashville, New Orleans, and Pittsburgh
- Breeze’s initial focus will be connecting the Rust Belt to the Sun Belt
As someone who lived in Tampa for years (and continues to spend a lot of time there), I’m thrilled to see that Breeze Airways has chosen the airport for its first route.
Breeze Airways will launch operations with Embraer 190/195 aircraft
Breeze’s fare classes: Nice, Nicer, and Nicest
Breeze has promised to be “the world’s nicest airline,” and the company’s fare structure reflects that.
Breeze will have three types of seating options — Nice, Nicer, and Nicest. While details remain limited, the “Nicest” option will be Breeze’s value-priced business class, which will be available when the airline takes delivery of Airbus A220s later this year. It’s expected that initially Breeze’s one-way fares will be $59-89.
I’ll be curious to see if Breeze lives up to its promise of being so nice, given how little the airline will pay both flight attendants and pilots.
Breeze Airways will fly Airbus A220s as of later this year
Bottom line
While Breeze Airways flights still aren’t on sale, that should change any day now. At least we’ve learned Breeze’s initial route plans, which include Tampa to Charleston being the company’s first route.
I’m excited to learn more about the airline, including all the planned routes, the fare and fee structures, what first class seats and service will be like on A220s, and more.
Breeze really is taking its time launching, especially compared to Avelo Airlines, which has already launched, with very little notice.
What do you make of Breeze’s first route?
I hope they’ll add smaller NC airports like Piedmont Triad International in Greensboro. We currently have to drive 2-3 hours to Charlotte or Raleigh to fly most places.
I am excited to see what develops with this airline. So many smaller airports that could be utilized. I lived in Tampa Bay and loved using PIE. In New England, we have Manchester, NH, Providence, RI and Worcester, MA that would be perfect for north-south routes. Flights out of Logan (BOS) to Tampa and Orlando can be very expensive.
Waiting for them to starting taking reservations!
Wonder when Prime Air ( see Amazon) will start flying passengers... Will Bezos have the drivers trained as pilots ? Will Prime Air serve Whole Foods fare ? Stay tune.
CraigTPA: I'd say the strategy is more likely to target shorter, direct flights to Florida where connecting through CLT/AA or ATL/DL is a significant hassle and time addition. I doubt they're considering Silver significant competition.
Presuming we're talking about Charleston, SC, interesting that TPA-CHS is already served by Silver. Could targeting Spirit with it's long-ish ATR flights be part of their initial strategy?
Neeleman knows what he's doing and has one of the best track records in aviation. Which is the only reason that I'm not here trashing what I'm seeing of Breeze so far. The cheap-o salaries paid to employees and the (thus far) meh routes announced are not encouraging. That said, the "Tampa" routes would sure be more interesting if they utilized PIE versus TPA. The E90 could do that easily. The fact that they're getting...
Neeleman knows what he's doing and has one of the best track records in aviation. Which is the only reason that I'm not here trashing what I'm seeing of Breeze so far. The cheap-o salaries paid to employees and the (thus far) meh routes announced are not encouraging. That said, the "Tampa" routes would sure be more interesting if they utilized PIE versus TPA. The E90 could do that easily. The fact that they're getting a bunch of A220's soon (a fantastic a/c, despite the idiotic comment posted above) is also a big plus for these guys. So, Breeze continues to be a wait and see, as what we know about their network is still quite limited.
Regarding their excruciatingly slow start up, the article contrasts this with Avelo. Some of the reviews of early Avelo flights seem to indicate they're still on an operational learning curve. Perhaps Breeze is working to avoid this as much as possible by being more deliberate. Again, we'll see.
Pilots just like to fly like a bird,but higher and enjoy the view God created
If you work behind the cockpit you can say you are Fa-breeze!
Sorry, couldn’t re-sist!
Something I noticed:
In the last picture, it looks at first like the airline's name is just 'ez' because of the lighting lol
Those cities and potential pairings aren't even remotely interesting from a network - or even geographic coverage - perspective. No business market upside. Just more opportunistic flying trying to scrape the leisure bottom of the market. Good luck.
The initial TPA-CHS flight + "connecting the Rust Belt to the Sun Belt" sounds like they've got Delta's ATL and AA's CLT hubs directly in their sights... two of the most profitable hubs in the industry, so it makes sense to go after them. SWA is aggressively going after this market as well. Delta is already under attack at BOS, LGA, JFK, LAX, and SEA by AA+AS+JB - the ATL hub bypass flights just add to the pressure.
This article actually doesn’t even motion the routes that will be served, despite its title. Served routes would be nice to see... and Tom is right, the link provided requires a $10 a month subscription to actually link to...
@David S
I do agree the Breeze pilots and F/A's should make more especially after a couple of years. And of course pilots are handling multi million dollar aircraft and annually safely transporting thousands of passengers representing millions in revenue to an airline.
I wasn't trying to compare McDonalds to pilots other than pointing out that businesses can be complex even thou we may not see all the behind the scene activities.
Neeleman did say they would be keeping the E90s for the foreseeable future alongside the Crap Series oh sorry 220 :0)
@David S
Of course a manager of a McDonalds makes more than $45,000 per year many make $75,000 and up. People just say McDonalds and think of entry level front line employees. Each location is often a 2 million dollar and up per year grossing enterprise. Logistics for a manager are monthly P/L's, employee hiring / training, scheduling, product mix, inventory, cash flow, insurance claims, the list goes on and on. In fact most middle...
@David S
Of course a manager of a McDonalds makes more than $45,000 per year many make $75,000 and up. People just say McDonalds and think of entry level front line employees. Each location is often a 2 million dollar and up per year grossing enterprise. Logistics for a manager are monthly P/L's, employee hiring / training, scheduling, product mix, inventory, cash flow, insurance claims, the list goes on and on. In fact most middle level government employees could never function in that business and would fail miserably. Regardless of your business if you know a successful McDonalds manager it would be a golden opportunity for you to hire that individual due to their extensive experience that could easily transfer to other fields.
And no I have never worked for McDonalds but I know that industry and how it is often misunderstood by folks who have not worked in the field.
I know this is off topic but just FYI
I wonder if they'll add PTI/GSO, INT, RDU, CLT, JQF/USA, AVL, or FAY to the list.
@Kevin - I believe it is Charleston, South Australia.
Will flight attendants and captains be required to volunteer to clean exterior of the airplane since they don’t have lounges to clean? Enquiring minds want to know….
Every applicant is voluntary. The subtext to your outrage-for-others is that someone should force one party in an otherwise voluntary exchange. Shame and force are ugly. If you don't want to work there, then don't apply. They'll miss you, I'm sure.
I would think someone who has written these articles for so long would use the airline terminology they use. Breeze will start with 49 direct routes you write. OK, what stop between the city pairs? You must mean NONSTOP routes, don't you?
In our town, the manager of McDonalds earn more than regional pilots
I’m a pilot flying for a regional. All FOs at most regional make below $45,000 per year. Even captains making less than $75K. Breeze is no different because they don’t have to be.
I’m assuming “Charleston” means, South Carolina (CHS), and not West Virginia (CRW)?
Looking for “Charleston, North Carolina”! LOL. Hope the rest of the article is more accurate.
I see Silver Airways already goes TPA-CHS. Maybe like Trey suggested above they will use Clearwater/St Petersburg (PIE)?
Breeze livery was spotted at ISP, where their maintenance HQ is. Expected as one of the hubs perhaps?
https://www.reddit.com/r/longisland/comments/na1wcr/new_airline_at_islip/
@Another Lump Easy, they are old and cranky.
I spotted one of their aircraft at FLL few weeks ago. It wasn’t parked at the gate, but at some hangars across the runway. So perhaps FLL is going to be another destination unless it was there just for maintenance.
@James W
If more money makes people nicer, how do you explain AA and United FAs? Nobody is being forced to work there. If that's their best opportunity then who are you to complain on their behalf? Maybe they are happy to gain the experience. But I guess you'd rather they be unemployed and collect government checks for doing nothing.
@lucky so are they flying to TPA or PIE? ..and in general are they serving primary or secondary airports?
Flight attendants making a fraction of what Chipotle/Starbucks employees earn. What could possibly go wrong?
The "Learned a Bit More link" just links to an Apple page that says "Open this story in Apple News.
For the best reading experience, open this story on a device with Apple News. It may also be available on the publisher’s website.
Learn more about Apple News".
Clicking the link on that page just takes you to an Apple page, not Breeze: https://www.apple.com/apple-news/
@Ben - any update regarding the new website? Just noticed thanks to one of the comments that Ask Lucky is still down.
Hey Ben, it's been about a month since the closure of Ask Lucky, any updates regarding the new forum?
The "learned a bit more" link doesn't seem to be working.... or is it just an iPhone thing?
How nice will their employees be, working at a poverty wage that would make an intern laugh?
Wonder if they'll add in RDU / Charlotte as well