The airline is hoping to begin scheduled international flights next year.
A Breeze Airways Airbus A220 (Photo: Shutterstock | Markus Mainka)
Since its 2021 launch, Breeze has expanded rapidly. Now, with over 40 aircraft in its fleet and around 60 destinations, its CEO is looking to take the startup airline even farther.
Serial airline entrepreneur David Neeleman founded Breeze and is the company’s CEO. Breeze is his latest venture, after launching other airlines including JetBlue, Azul, and WestJet.
Neeleman may branch out from its current mainland U.S. market, hinting at service to Hawaii and trans-Atlantic destinations. As of now, the carrier is finalizing approvals to operate internationally.
Breeze Airways CEO David Neeleman at West Palm Beach International Airport (Photo: Airlinegeeks – Vanni Gibertini)
The airline is eyeing a fall 2025 start for international operations, Neeleman said, pending the approval of its flag carrier status.
“Unfortunately when you do international, you need a longer booking window,” he added during an interview with AirlineGeeks. “It’d be great to get our flag [status] at the end of the first quarter and then start flying the summer, but maybe that’s a little bit tight.”
“So maybe the fall. Announcing flights for late fall next year would probably be the most prudent way to do it because we do have a lot of routes that are doing well,” he continued. “With the new airplanes coming, we have lots of demand for them. So, I would guess it’d be late fall or maybe in the next winter before, and we’ll be flying international then, obviously subject to government approval.”
Avelo – which started operations around the same time as Breeze – has already kicked off scheduled international flights from Bradley/Hartford in Connecticut, including Cancun, Mexico, and Montego Bay, Jamaica. It will also fly internationally from Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina, in the coming months.
Neeleman alluded to possible trans-Atlantic expansion down the road. Last year, Breeze asked the FAA for permission to deploy its A220s across the pond.
“ It could be … to the Isles to kind of Ireland or the British Isles, secondary cities, seasonal. So maybe you fly Cancun all winter and you fly Ireland all summer,” he said, noting JetBlue’s push toward trans-Altantic flying.
A Breeze A220 in Phoenix (Photo: AirlineGeeks | William Derrickson)
“ We have to go to work on ETOPS … because I’d like to go to Hawaii from secondary and tertiary cities, but obviously we need to get that ETOPS done as well,” Neeleman continued. “And when you’re halfway between the West Coast and Hawaii, you’re as far from land as anyone else in the world.”
Unlike some of its low-cost peers, Breeze already has a designated premium product. This could expand too, Neeleman said.
Breeze’s A220-300 aircraft have 12 premium seats in two-by-two configurations. Some of the airline’s early A220s had up to 36 premium seats.
“We could actually go from 24 first-class seats, like we had when we started, to 12 overnight. Now we’re looking at going back to 16 because there’s so much demand for it,” he shared.
Some of the airline’s longer routes see stronger demand for the premium product, Neeleman added.
“ I think … adding some first-class seats and maybe shrinking a little bit the extra-legroom section, maybe 16 [and] 35 would be kind of a better complement for that,” he continued.
Neeleman noted that “things are going well right now” and the company may not immediately “mess too much” with the model as a result.
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