Starting a new airline while demand is still recovering from the pandemic. David Neeleman did it, and since May of this year, Breeze Airways is in the air.
What is Breeze Airways, which planes do they operate, and what is their business model? Let’s Talk Aviation!
Start
In 2018, David Neeleman, founder of JetBlue, WestJet, and Azul Airlines announced that he planned to launch a new airline. Initially, it was called Moxy Airways and the start of operations was planned for 2020, with an entirely CSeries – which were later renamed the A220 – fleet. He placed an order for 60 aircraft of which the first 18 would be delivered in the first years of the airline. They would need 100 million US dollars and at the time of the announcement, the financing was not yet finalized.
With a fleet of relatively small, but very efficient aircraft, they planned to operate mostly flights between secondary airports. The airline would focus on point-to-point flights instead of building large hubs to route passengers through. This resembles the previous airlines founded by Neeleman, JetBlue, and Azul.
By operating flights between for example Burbank and Fort Worth the airport fees are lower and so are turnaround times. Both contributing to the profitability of the airline. According to Neeleman, they expect very little competition on their direct flights, or as he himself said “I would be very surprised if a single Moxy route had non-stop service competition.” So, instead of competing with existing airlines, they will focus on opening new direct routes on which there is little to no competition.
Not much later, Neeleman announced that the 100 million dollars needed were found. A combination of money from himself, former Air Canada CEO Robert Milton, former ILFC – an aircraft leasing company – CEO Henri Coupron, and others.
Fleet
Right before the pandemic changed everything, it was announced that Moxy Airways would be renamed Breeze. Because of some delays with the delivery from their A220s they had ordered and to kickstart their operations, they announced that they will sublease tens of Embraer E195 aircraft from Azul, indeed, one of the other airlines founded by Neeleman.
Fast-forwarding to April 2021 and before having operated a single flight, Breeze ordered another 20 A220s, bringing the total order up to 80. Also, next to the E195s they would sublease from Azul, they announced that they will also lease several E190 from Nordic Aviation Capital. While the first plans were to become an all-CSeries airline, they have shifted away from this idea and instead will be operating the Embraer E-Jets on the shorter one-to-two-hour flights. The A220s will be for their longer flights – with plans to operate flights to Hawaii and the Caribbean.
In the air
The next month, on the 27th, they operated their first flight from Tampa, Florida to Charleston, South Carolina. At their launch, they planned to operate 39 flights between 16 cities in two months. Routes include San Antonio to Oklahoma City and New Orleans to Tulsa. While these are not your common airport hubs, this is, as mentioned before their business model.
To expand operations, they went on to find further funding. In August, they announced to have secured another 200 million dollars in investments, bringing the total up to 300 million US dollars. In the few months since they started operations, they already had over 100.000 passengers according to their CEO.
This month, they revealed the livery for their A220s as the first one sighted at the Airbus plant in Mobile, Alabama. At the end of 2020, Airbus delivered the first A220. And after that, roughly one new aircraft will arrive each month, lining the airline up for steady growth.