Breeze Airways to open base in Hartford, setting up Connecticut as low-cost battleground

The Constitution State is becoming a competitive market for the nation's newest ultra-low-cost carriers.

Breeze Airways on Thursday announced it would open a new base at Hartford's Bradley Airport (BDL), which will include eight yet-to-be-announced destinations on top of the four Breeze already flies from there. Breeze's move comes a day after Avelo Airlines announced it was launching service to four new destinations from its base at Tweed-New Haven Airport (HVN), where it's now selling tickets on 10 nonstop routes.

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Bradley is 56 miles north of Tweed-New Haven by car. The airports are linked by Interstate 91, a key transportation corridor through a relatively densely populated area with residents that would find both airports convenient. Therefore, Breeze's move can be seen as competitive to Avelo's.

Breeze has served Bradley since its first day of operations in May of 2021, and currently serves four destinations from the airport: Charleston, South Carolina (CHS), Columbus, Ohio (CMH), Norfolk, Virginia (ORF) and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (PIT). Its new Airbus A220 will serve all four of its current Bradley routes starting in June. The Utah-headquartered airline said that it would announce its eight new destinations from Hartford in early March.

Avelo on Wednesday announced that it too will serve Charleston from its Connecticut base. It currently serves six cities in Florida and, in addition to Charleston, will soon add Myrtle Beach, South Carolina (MYR), Savannah, Georgia (SAV), and Nashville (BNA).

In announcing Breeze's new base, CEO and founder David Neeleman played up his airline's connection to the state.

"As a long-time Connecticut resident, it’s personally really exciting for me to announce today with Governor [Ned] Lamont that Hartford’s Bradley International Airport is becoming Breeze’s fifth base of operations,” he said in a statement. "We also can’t wait to share the news on all the new destinations coming from Hartford in just a matter of weeks."

More: Avelo Airlines adds 4 new cities, will now fly 10 routes from East Coast base

Breeze's move will create over 200 jobs, the carrier said. It will earn a nearly $1.3 million grant in arrears from Connecticut's Department of Economic and Community Development that is contingent on the airline creating and retaining 212 full-time jobs.

In addition to service from Breeze, Hartford is also served by American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Frontier Airlines, JetBlue, Southwest Airlines, Spirit Airlines and United Airlines. Avelo is the only carrier at Tweed-New Haven, which is undergoing a terminal expansion project. The airport was formerly served by American, which discontinued service there during the pandemic.