JetBlue’s founder’s new venture Breeze Airways intends to nearly double its route network and add cross-country flights

Breeze Airways announced on Tuesday that it plans to nearly double its network to 77 routes this spring and summer, a massive expansion for the US start-up that began flights in May.

JetBlue Airways’ fifth carrier, based in Salt Lake City, was founded by JetBlue Airways founder David Neeleman in order to fill travel demand between cities that large carriers were not serving. Avelo Airlines, another upstart founded by Andrew Levy, United Airlines’ CFO until 2018, also launched last year, focusing on underserved U.S. markets.

After two difficult Covid pandemic years, Breeze and other airlines have been preparing for a strong peak spring and summer travel season. Now, a 13-year high in jet fuel prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is putting them to the test in terms of how much they can expand while remaining profitable.

“It hasn’t been easy,” said Breeze’s chief commercial officer, Lukas Johnson, in an interview.

He stated that the number of new flights was “slightly smaller” than anticipated a few months ago, and that the airline made last-minute changes over the weekend. Executives want to avoid upsetting customers later on, according to Johnson.

Nonetheless, domestic leisure travel, on which Breeze and Avelo have focused, has been relatively robust in comparison to the pandemic’s sluggish recovery in international and corporate travel.

Breeze has placed an order for 80 Airbus A220-300 jets, a model whose fuel efficiency and range have piqued the interest of airlines such as JetBlue and Delta.

According to Johnson, Breeze expects to receive one plane per month from Airbus. It currently has two in its fleet, and they will begin flying in May. The initial deliveries include a 36-seat first class, 10 extra legroom seats, and 80 standard coach seats. They will eventually have 12 first-class seats, 45 extra legroom seats, and 80 coach seats.

Breeze began her career flying Embraer E190 and E195 jets.

The new Airbus planes will be used to fly longer distances, including transcontinental flights from Savannah, Georgia, to Los Angeles and Providence, Rhode Island, to Los Angeles.

Fares for some of the longest routes, such as Las Vegas to Jacksonville, Florida, will start at $99 when Breeze launches in August. Johnson anticipates that those fares will rise.

“You don’t want to increase [fares] too much because you’re still recovering from the pandemic,” Johnson explained.