Breeze Airways CEO David Neeleman. Photo: Horacio Villalobos#Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images
Breeze Airways announced this week that it will begin flying on May 27 with flights mostly in the southeastern and central United States, AP reports.
The state of play: Customers can start scheduling flights to and from specific airports in Virginia, Florida, Connecticut, South Carolina, Ohio, Alabama, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Arkansas, according to the company's website. Flights start at $39 one way.
- The airline plans to expand to 16 cities by July, per AP.
- Breeze was initially scheduled to start operations last year, but its launch was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic, USA Today notes.
Driving the news: "The company plans to make non-stop flights between smaller airports that currently don’t have such service. It says bypassing major hubs will allow travelers to save both time and money," AP writes.
- Breeze CEO David Neeleman, who founded JetBlue Airways, says that there is an untapped market for non-stop flights between smaller cities, per USA Today. The airline could potentially rival Allegiant, another budget airline that attracts people in those locations.
The big picture: Breeze's launch comes a month after another startup airline, Avelo, began flying on the West Coast. Travel is beginning to return in the U.S. and both airlines are looking to benefit from the uptick, per AP.
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