JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Startup discount carrier Breeze Airways said Tuesday it will add 35 routes from 10 more cities and will be the newest carrier at Jacksonville International Airport (JAX) with new, nonstop service to seven cities.
“This is the single largest air service announcement in the airport’s history,” JAA CEO Mark VanLoh said. “Breeze Airways’ arrival in Jacksonville will be a game-changer for Northeast Florida. The airline will offer service to several of our largest unserved markets. We look forward to their continued growth at JAX.”
Recommended Videos
The cities serviced will be: Richmond, Virginia; Columbus, Ohio; New Orleans; Providence, Rhode Island; Norfolk, Virginia; Hartford, Connecticut; and Las Vegas.
“This is a really great day for Breeze and for Jacksonville,” said Breeze Founder and CEO David Neeleman. “We like to think of ourselves as the Seriously Nice airline, bringing friendly service, low fares and nonstops to places that need them, so you don’t have to drive long distances or fly through connecting hubs. With Breeze, we’ll get there twice as fast, for about half the price.”
Breeze Airways will be the 10th carrier to offer flights from JAX. For fares, reservations, comprehensive flight schedules and more information, visit flybreeze.com.
Breeze has been flying mostly in the Southeast and East since it began operating last May. Neeleman said the airline will add flights this summer to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas, among other cities.
Many of the flights will use 126-seat Airbus A220 jets, which are larger than Breeze’s current fleet of Embraer planes.
Breeze and fellow startup Avelo believe they can find a niche on routes that have been overlooked or abandoned by bigger airlines — usually a smaller city on one or both ends. Their ability to thrive — or even survive — is complicated, however, by the recent surge in jet fuel prices following the rise in oil prices.
Spot prices for Gulf Coast jet fuel have doubled in the past 14 months and risen one-third just since the start of this year. Since fuel can amount to one-third of airline’s costs, it’s a big item.
“Fares have got to go up to cover the extra fuel costs, and whenever fares go up, demand suffers a little bit,” Neeleman said in an AP interview.
Breeze announced its aggressive expansion just as jet fuel prices are soaring to an eight-year high. Neeleman said Breeze assumed lower fuel prices when it laid out its expansion plan — although he declined to say how much lower.
“It wasn't $130 a barrel, that's for sure,” he said, citing the peak price of oil futures early Monday, although they later retreated.
Neeleman said more-efficient A220 jets will limit fare increases to between $3 and $5 per seat for every $1 jump in jet fuel, which has climbed from around $2 to nearly $3 a gallon since January 2021, according to Energy Department figures. He said the higher prices caused the airline to scale back some planned flights without dropping any destinations entirely.