But Breeze seems to follow the classic tech mantra: “Fail fast and move on.” “Most of our network has had some sort of reduction,” Johnson says. The network has had other misfires as well. Johnson says this had more to do with long-haul pilot and aircraft availability than lack of demand. However, some high-profile routes were dropped shortly after they launched, and some were canceled before services began. Breeze Chief Commercial Officer Lukas Johnson. The company is constantly finding riches in exploring niches: It is acquiring slots at airports that have never seen domestic long-haul and transcontinental service, such as the fast-growing Los Angeles exurb of San Bernadino, and “high-end” leisure areas that have lost services, such as Vero Beach, which is about equidistant from Daytona Beach, Orlando and West Palm Beach, Florida. Adding secondary airports in densely populated areas such as Westchester County and Long Island, New York, and Provo south of Salt Lake City is proving to be another rich opportunity. These routes have proven to be the most successful, with Hartford and Charleston leading the pack. He points to transcontinental and longer-haul connectivity to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas and Phoenix from smaller markets that have never had such services, such as Akron, Ohio Charleston, South Carolina Fort Myers, Florida Hartford, Connecticut Providence, Rhode Island and Richmond, Virginia. The fares are up significantly, and for the traveling public that’s trying to get between two midsize cities, there’s just not as many options.”
“That elimination and reduction of service to smaller communities gives us the potential to stimulate new demand that’s higher even than before. “In 2022, regional departures were lower than mainline departures at the legacies for the first time ever,” Johnson notes. Slower deliveries of the U.S.-built A220s and some quality control issues with the aircraft have also been constraints.īut ever the opportunistic contrarian, Breeze is benefiting from major carriers’ shift away from regional flying, which plays right into its sweet spot. It is “the stuff everyone is facing,” he says. Germinating before and during the pandemic, the airline has faced many unexpected challenges, Johnson concedes, such as the higher-priced, tighter labor environment-particularly for pilots-and supply chain issues. The vast majority of Breeze’s hub-bypassing, point-to-point nonstops have had no direct competition. The A220 is able to connect small and medium-size cities with larger city-pairs, particularly on long/thin routes such as transcontinental ones, that have never had that service before. “We built the airline around a unique plane that gives us unique opportunities,” he asserts. The company’s bundled approach to segmentation with its “Nice,” “Nicer” and “Nicest” branded fares large premium cabin offering for the price of economy class and a digital-only approach to reservations, merchandising and customer service are just a few ways in which the company is a disruptor as much as it is a discounter.īreeze Chief Commercial Officer Lukas Johnson tells Aviation Week that the original premise of the airline remains the same. “Breeze is a tech company that happens to fly airplanes,” Neeleman says. Market-stimulating low fares and low costs are about all Breeze has in common with other cost-cutting carriers. With its contrarian founder and business model, the ultra-low-cost carrier (ULCC) could be considered the un-ULCC. Regional markets may offer opportunities.Operational and financial hurdles marked the carrier’s first year.Provo, Utah-based Breeze was the most privately capitalized airline startup, attracting $287 million in three rounds of financing leading up to its launch. The high-profile David Neeleman startup is confronting a mix of headwinds and tailwinds. Eighteen months after launching on May 27, 2021, Breeze Airways is sailing into its next phase of growth.
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