Aviation industry icon David Neeleman, who founded five budget or low-cost airlines over the past 35 years, said his newest baby -- Breeze Airways -- will begin serving locations in the United States without affordable air service by the end of this year. He dubbed Breeze Airways "the world's nicest airline."
Breeze Airways has applied for an airline-operating certificate with the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Breeze will initially serve mid-sized U.S. city pairs that don't currently have nonstop air service.
"Breeze will fly non-stop service between places currently without meaningful or affordable service," said Neeleman, who is Breeze's CEO and president. "20 years ago, we brought humanity back to the airline industry with JetBlue. Today, we're excited to introduce plans for 'the World's Nicest Airline.'"
Neeleman said Breeze will provide routes to underserved markets. He also said Breeze will fly to airports and destinations "that bigger airlines overlook." These destinations are those that mostly don't have direct flights, especially from larger airports. They're secondary airports for major cities, or require at least one or more stops or modes of transportation in order to get there.
"I would be very surprised if a single (Breeze) route had non-stop service competition," said Neeleman. "There are literally hundreds and hundreds of city pairs that are crying out for non-stop flights."
Breeze has leased 30 Embraer E195 narrow-body short- to medium-range twin-engine jet airliner to serve smaller U.S. markets. These planes are to be delivered starting in May.
The E195 is part of the Embraer E-Jet family that's been a commercial success due to its ability to efficiently serve lower-demand routes while offering many of the same amenities and features of larger jets. These planes are a larger stretch version of the E170/175 models fitted with a new, larger wing, a larger horizontal stabilizer and a new engine, the GE CF34-10E.
Breeze has also ordered 60 new Airbus 220-300 passenger jets to serve mid-sized markets. These planes will start being delivered in April 2021. The Airbus A220 is a family of narrow-body, twin-engine, medium-range jet airliners noted for its better-than-expected fuel burn and dispatch reliability.
"Bringing low-cost, non-stop service to these mid-size cities will help not only the people living there by affording them better, more affordable, and more convenient service," said Janet Bednarek, aviation history professor at the University of Dayton in Ohio. "It will also help those cities compete in a market that now heavily favors cities with large hub airports."
"If (Neeleman) is successful maybe it will teach an important lesson to the majors about looking beyond the biggest and most profitable markets to find the many other opportunities in those parts of the country often referred to as the 'great flyover.'"
