It’s a double bit of news for Breeze Airways. Firstly, their first Airbus A220-300 has exited the paint shop at Mobile, Alabama, looking rather smart for itself.
Breeze has confirmed it has reached a purchase agreement with Airbus for 20 more of the aircraft.
This previously undisclosed order for 20 brings Breeze’s total order book to 80 A220-300s, the first of which will be delivered in Q4 2021.
The aircraft’s paint job was completed at Airbus’ facility in Mobile, Alabama, which will deliver approximately one A220 per month to Breeze over the next six-and-a-half years.
The airline plans to begin flights with the Airbus fleet in the second quarter of 2022, building on its business model of connecting underserved routes across the U.S. at affordable fares.
Breeze Airways started airline operations in May 2021, with Embraer E190 and E195 aircraft (ex Azul or Air Canada aircraft). This first A220 is the first new aircraft that will be operated by the airline.
Stepping up to the A220
It’s a step up for Breeze Airways, which will allow for more passengers to be carried onboard their services, as well as allowing a wider range of destinations to be served.
With 170 A220 in service worldwide, the aircraft is proving its worth with operators to enable connectivity.
It’ll be interesting to see where these aircraft end up flying to.
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This confirmation on the additional 20 orders comes at the same time that Breeze has cut some frequencies. The New Orleans cuts I can understand given the hurricane damage the city just took, several other carriers have temporarily cut MSY as well.
It’s the cuts on the Tampa-Louisville route that may give an idea that all is not well in Breezetown. TPA is supposed to be a focus city for Breeze, but they just cut this service from 4x/wk to 2x/wk. Other than some Instagram ads I’ve seen remarkably little marketing here in Tampa for the airline.
It’s hard to bet against David Neeleman, but I have my doubts about Breeze and its Burbank, CA 2021 start-up sibling Avelo (they were a charter carrier under various names before this year, but this is a new venture.) I hope they make it – more competition is a good thing.
There are secondary markets for non=stop connections, but they may be seasonal. Spirit Air out of FLL is “low cost”, “barebones”, “low expectation”; seats are only 28″ apart, no recline, and “add on” fees often make the total cost of airfare MORE expensive than legacy carriers. So, Breeze could simply compete on their routes. South Florida has much demand, both as an international hub, and as a destination itself.
Opa Locka airport, located between MIA and FLL used to be the military base in WWII. It has long runways and used only by the Coast Guard, and private planes. There had been, pre-COVID, a sort of Air “Uber” using the minijets from Eclipse Aviation, but that fell throught.
Opa Locka is one of the poorest municipalities in S. Florida, and its finances were so bad that the State rescued them and has installed overseers. In the past, residents reject a bid to open to commercial aviation on the basis of noise, but that is likely to change.
OPH was also where Amelia Earhardt began her round the would flight attempt.