Low cost carrier Breeze Airways flies all kinds of point-to-point routes. I don’t cover most of the carrier’s route developments, since there are so many of them, and routes are also cut all the time. However, I can’t help but cover the carrier’s latest expansion, which might just be the most interesting to date…
In this post:
Breeze Airways adds 10 routes out of New Haven
Breeze Airways has announced plans to add service to Tweed New Haven Airport (HVN), in Connecticut. Specifically, the airline plans to launch 10 routes from New Haven, to the following destinations (with number of weekly frequencies and launch dates also listed):
- Fort Myers (RSW) 5x weekly as of December 10, 2024
- Orlando (MCO) 5x weekly as of December 11, 2024
- West Palm Beach (PBI) 5x weekly as of December 11, 2024
- Vero Beach (VRB) 2x weekly as of December 13, 2024
- Charleston (CHS) 4x weekly as of February 6, 2025
- Jacksonville (JAX) 2x weekly as of February 6, 2025
- Norfolk (ORF) 2x weekly as of February 6, 2024
- Raleigh-Durham (RDU) 2x weekly as of February 7, 2025
- Sarasota (SRQ) 2x weekly as of February 7, 2025
- New Orleans (MSY) 2x weekly as of February 6, 2025
All of these routes are now on sale, for flights through May 12, 2025.
Tweed New Haven Airport is just under an hour drive (around 55 miles) from Hartford-Bradley International Airport (BDL), which Breeze already serves. Not only is Breeze adding flights to nearby New Haven, but it has also announced plans to expand operations in Hartford, and even plans to offer international service from the airport in the near future (though there are no details beyond that just yet).
Breeze Airways is invading Avelo Air’s territory
What makes Breeze Airways’ expansion into New Haven so noteworthy is that the airline is very much entering the territory of ultra low cost carrier competitor Avelo Air.
In late 2021, Avelo set up a base in New Haven, which was a creative move on the carrier’s part. In the past, the airport had a single route on American Eagle to Philadelphia (PHL), and even that had been suspended at the time.
Avelo took a big gamble on the airport, and it has worked out really well, as the airline now has over two dozen routes from the airport, including seasonal services. Avelo flies from New Haven to places like Houston (HOU), San Juan (SJU), Daytona Beach (DAB), and more.
It’s interesting to see Breeze now trying to enter this market as well, which Avelo very much created. On which routes are the two airlines competing? Both airlines will offer service to Fort Myers, Orlando, West Palm Beach, and Raleigh-Durham.
I’m sure airport authorities are absolutely delighted by how this situation is evolving. The airport is going from having basically been abandoned in 2021, to now having stiff competition by two airlines looking to grow market share.
Only time will tell how this plays out. Will the market be big enough for both airlines? Will Avelo have the advantage of having a more established customer base at the airport, and will it be able to push out Breeze? Or can Breeze gain market share, and cause Avelo to retreat?
While I think Avelo has a better business model than Breeze, there’s no denying that Breeze offers a better passenger experience, with brand new Airbus A220s, Wi-Fi, and a comfortable cabin, including first class-style seating.
Ultimately my takeaway from this situation is that Avelo deserves a lot of credit for the way in which it sets up bases, because clearly the company is good at creating demand in markets that airlines otherwise haven’t bothered with. Hopefully the airline has similar luck with its new base in Lakeland, Florida.
Bottom line
Breeze Airways will launch service to New Haven, an airport that otherwise only has service from Avelo Air. Breeze will launch 10 routes, a majority of which are to Florida, with the other routes being to Breeze’s existing focus cities.
It has been awesome to see Avelo’s success in New Haven, and I’m looking forward to seeing how this move from Breeze impacts the competitive landscape…
What do you make of Breeze launching flights to New Haven, and how do you see this playing out?
This is such an odd move for the airline. Personally, I will take full advantage of this service for my favorite New Haven style pizza "Apizza"
I still do not understand Breeze. I live in one of its focus cites. The non-stop flights are to towns I’m not interested in. It also lists a service to LAX, but with a 5 hr connection; total travel time is 13+ hrs. And frequency is only twice a week.
Very few, if any, in town are aware it serves our airport. Very little awareness other than an occasional blurb in the local paper...
I still do not understand Breeze. I live in one of its focus cites. The non-stop flights are to towns I’m not interested in. It also lists a service to LAX, but with a 5 hr connection; total travel time is 13+ hrs. And frequency is only twice a week.
Very few, if any, in town are aware it serves our airport. Very little awareness other than an occasional blurb in the local paper which only old folks like me read. Haven’t heard anything from my nieces and nephews who are the essence of social media
How it makes money is beyond me!!
I don't get this move at all especially considering by all accounts Breeze is hemorrhaging money. Eliminating Avelo from the market would benefit them, but I just don't see them as strong enough to make that kind of move. When Breeze first launched if memory serves me, they were planning to have a large presence in HVN, but pulled back and focused more on BLD and PVD because of Avelo launching with HVN as its...
I don't get this move at all especially considering by all accounts Breeze is hemorrhaging money. Eliminating Avelo from the market would benefit them, but I just don't see them as strong enough to make that kind of move. When Breeze first launched if memory serves me, they were planning to have a large presence in HVN, but pulled back and focused more on BLD and PVD because of Avelo launching with HVN as its hub. Breeze already serves all nearest commercial airports to HVN (BLD, PVD, SWF, and HPN).
Add New Orleans to the competition list. Avelo just today announced HVN-MSY, 2x weekly starting 11/14/24.
Also keep in mind that Westchester County Airport (HPN) will have a lot of overlapping travelers in its catchment area as New Haven, particularly the wealthy Fairfield County. The major towns in Fairfield County are <20 mins from HPN.
Breeze and JetBlue are also both very active at HPN: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westchester_County_Airport
Wonder if Breeze will move some of their flights from Westchester to New Haven or keep them both if demand warrants
I just looked - it looks like Avelo itself is launching an expansion at Bradley starting in November, so this could just be some retaliation on Breeze’s part…
Connecticut is an interesting state. Fairfield County has always been wealthy but has gained a lot of older millennial families the past few years as they and moved out of NYC for houses. Areas like Hartford have their state government and insurance niches. New Haven itself obviously has education and related stuff. It’s not a state that is high on the radar, but there are a lot of residents with money that want to travel....
Connecticut is an interesting state. Fairfield County has always been wealthy but has gained a lot of older millennial families the past few years as they and moved out of NYC for houses. Areas like Hartford have their state government and insurance niches. New Haven itself obviously has education and related stuff. It’s not a state that is high on the radar, but there are a lot of residents with money that want to travel. HVN is 40-45 minutes away from a lot of the population in Fairfield County, and obviously closer to a lot of people in New Haven and Litchfield counties. And a lot of these residents probably have friends, family, second houses in Florida. It’s a well located airport for these kinds of flights. Whether Breeze will be successful here is a different story, but no reason HVN airport can’t sustain a lot of flights given the recent demographic trends.
Now they’ll both go bust. Dumb move.
As a Connecticut resident, I don't understand the comment that the New Haven airport can't support 2 carriers. Why not? Reality is that most residents of the area try their best to avoid LGA, JFK and EWR so the options really are BDL and HPN. HPN is always busy and I am pretty sure at max capacity unless they expand and locals keep fighting that. BDL is a good option for people north of Fairfield...
As a Connecticut resident, I don't understand the comment that the New Haven airport can't support 2 carriers. Why not? Reality is that most residents of the area try their best to avoid LGA, JFK and EWR so the options really are BDL and HPN. HPN is always busy and I am pretty sure at max capacity unless they expand and locals keep fighting that. BDL is a good option for people north of Fairfield County but most that live in southern CT bite the bullet and go to NY/NJ to fly. New Haven is a good option and central in CT so I think it can definitely sustain two airlines....especially if the routes don't overlap too much. Do I think Breeze is smart going head to head on some of the same routes as Avelo...NO but there are people that won't fly Avelo so Breeze might be banking on them for those overlapping routes.
HVN is set to handle literally 10 times more traffic this year than it did the last full year pre-Covid.
The implication is that it is unlikely to sustain long-term, all of the traffic being added by (a turf war between) two startup airlines, within such a short time.
As someone who lives in Westchester and is 30 minutes from Greenwich, I agree. Like I can avoid LaGuardia or jfk and take a smaller airport like hpn or New Haven, i would gladly take even if it’s more expensive.
Because while it seems like a no brainer to you and I, history tells us it rarely works
Frontier has been trying to make TTN (Trenton-Princeton) work for years now. Can pull traffic from both EWR and PHL, and have lots of wealthy locals similar to New Haven. Yet they’re pulling back a ton this winter. I don’t know why, flights were always full when I flew there. My best guess is that while tons...
Because while it seems like a no brainer to you and I, history tells us it rarely works
Frontier has been trying to make TTN (Trenton-Princeton) work for years now. Can pull traffic from both EWR and PHL, and have lots of wealthy locals similar to New Haven. Yet they’re pulling back a ton this winter. I don’t know why, flights were always full when I flew there. My best guess is that while tons of locals love these smaller airport flights to FL, those on the other end aren’t nearly as interested
Seems like this can't support 2 airlines. So it will be low, low fares all around and then one if not both airlines will eventually give up and move on.
That's what I'm afraid of. When Avelo opened at BDL, it was because they needed a place for International flights. They avoided most head to head competition with Breeze.
There is barely any room to operate now inside the terminal. Avelo has worked hard at building an on time operation at HVN, which is now threatened by having to find room for Breeze and all their passengers.
I don't understand why the attack on a...
That's what I'm afraid of. When Avelo opened at BDL, it was because they needed a place for International flights. They avoided most head to head competition with Breeze.
There is barely any room to operate now inside the terminal. Avelo has worked hard at building an on time operation at HVN, which is now threatened by having to find room for Breeze and all their passengers.
I don't understand why the attack on a fellow LCC, they could have announced a similar move at several focus cities a major serves.
Another confounding move by an airline who's yet to make a cent, nor establish a sustained route network that actually gets them market recognition. Now they want to get into a turf war? So strange.
HVN better enjoy all the volume and low fares, while it can. This won't last.