Breeze Airways adds 2 new cities as part of 13-route expansion
Breeze Airways is adding two new cities to its route map as part of a broader 13-route expansion announced Tuesday.
Flights to the new destinations – Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) and Florida's Vero Beach Regional Airport (VRB) – begin in February.
From Cincinnati, Breeze will add nonstop service to San Francisco and Charleston, South Carolina. The airline will offer two flights a week on each route beginning Feb. 1.
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Breeze will be the only carrier flying the 2,036-mile route to San Francisco, a high-profile business-oriented route that no airline has flown from Cincinnati since before the pandemic. It was last served by Delta, according to the Cincinnati Business Courier. To Charleston, Breeze will go up against budget carrier Allegiant, which also offers two weekly flights on the route.
In Vero Breach, Breeze will become just the second airline to fly from the airport along Florida's "Treasure Coast" on the Atlantic. VRB sits about 140 miles north of Miami and about 105 miles southeast of Orlando. The only other carrier flying from Vero Beach is Elite Airways, a small niche carrier that offers one round-trip flight a week to both Newark and Portland, Maine.
Breeze will begin flying from Vero Beach on Feb. 15, with daily service to Hartford, Connecticut, and thrice-weekly service to White Plains/Westchester County, New York.
The new dots on Breeze's map comes as the company continues to focus on "underserved markets" – or city-pairs currently without nonstop service where travelers otherwise must connect on other airlines to travel between them.
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Including the new cities, Breeze said it is adding a total of 13 new nonstop routes — including several between cities it already serves. The additions include four new nonstop routes from Orlando and three from Phoenix.
Among the notable additions:
- Cross-country routes from Hartford, Connecticut, to both Phoenix and Provo, Utah.
- A 181-mile hop from San Bernardino in California's Inland Empire to Las Vegas. Breeze will be the only carrier flying between the airports, though it's main competition may be to entice travelers to ditch their cars on the relatively short drive.
- A third cross-country route from Richmond, Virginia, which gets new twice-weekly service to Phoenix. Breeze already flies to a half-dozen destinations from the Virginia capital, including Las Vegas and San Francisco in the West.
Breeze also announced several new "BreezeThru" flights, its branding for one-stop, same-plane service between two cities. Travelers from Hartford, for example, will be able to fly to San Bernardino on a flight that lands in Provo, Utah, but then continues on to California.
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Another change comes on Breeze's cross-country flights from Charleston. The carrier's nonstop flights to Los Angeles and Las Vegas, which launch next month, will move to one-stop, same-plane service in January. Similarly, Breeze's Charleston-San Francisco flights — which will launch later in the spring — will now be one-stop, same plane service instead of nonstop.
The schedule updates comes after the airline hit a rough patch this past summer, abruptly postponing the launch of previous new routes and suspensions of others. At the time, Breeze cited staffing shortages and supply chain constraints for the disruptions.
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"While we understand how disruptive this has been, we feel it's best to let our Guests know sooner than later so they can make alternate plans," a spokesperson for Breeze said to TPG in June. "By postponing some new routes for several months, we'll greatly ease congestion and delays, and return to a reliable and efficient operation."
For now, Breeze seems to have stabilized and is back into growth mode. Details on the new routes are below.
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Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky (CVG)
- Charleston, South Carolina: Twice-weekly flights (Wednesday and Saturday) begin Feb. 8 on Airbus A220 jets.
- San Francisco: Twice-weekly flights (Wednesday and Saturday) begin Feb 8 on Airbus A220 jets.
Vero Beach, Florida (VRB)
- Hartford, Connecticut: Twice-weekly flights (Thursday and Saturday) begin Feb. 2 on Embraer E195 jets.
- White Plains/Westchester, New York: Three weekly flights (Friday and Monday) begin Feb 3 on Embraer E195 jets. A third weekly flight begins Feb. 16, when the schedule moves to Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.
- Norfolk, Virginia: One-stop, same-plane service begins Feb 3. Flights are twice weekly (Friday and Monday) on Embraer E195 jets.
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Akron-Canton, Ohio (CAK)
- Orlando: Twice-weekly flights (Wednesday and Saturday) begin March 1 on Embraer E195 jets.
Bentonville-Fayetteville, Arkansas (XNA)
- Orlando: Twice-weekly flights (Monday and Thursday) begin March 3 on Embraer E195 jets.
- Phoenix: Twice-weekly flights (Monday and Thursday) begin Feb. 17 on Embraer E195 jets.
- Charleston, South Carolina: One-stop, same-plane service begins March 3. Flights are twice weekly (Monday and Thursday) on Embraer E195 jets.
Charleston, South Carolina (CHS)
- Cincinnati: Twice-weekly flights (Wednesday and Saturday) begin Feb. 1 on Airbus A220 jets.
- Huntsville, Alabama: One-stop, same-plane service begins March 2. Flights are twice weekly (Thursday and Sunday) on Embraer E195 jets.
- Tulsa: One-stop, same-plane service begins March 1. Flights are twice weekly (Wednesday and Friday) on Embraer E195 jets.
- Bentonville-Fayetteville: One-stop, same-plane service begins March 3. Flights are twice weekly (Monday and Thursday) on Embraer E195 jets.
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Hartford/Bradley International Airport, Connecticut (BDL)
- Phoenix: Twice-weekly flights (Thursday and Sunday) begin Feb. 9 on Airbus A220 jets.
- Vero Beach, Florida: Twice-weekly flights (Thursday and Saturday) begin Feb. 2 on Airbus A220 jets.
- Provo, Utah: One-stop, same-plane service begins Feb 9. Flights are twice weekly (Thursday and Sunday) on Airbus A220 jets.
- San Bernardino, California: One-stop, same-plane service begins Feb 16. Flights are twice weekly (Thursday and Sunday) on Airbus A220 jets.
Huntsville, Alabama (HSV)
- Orlando: Twice-weekly flights (Thursday and Sunday) begin March 2 on Embraer E195 jets.
- Charleston, South Carolina: One-stop, same-plane service begins March 2. Flights are twice weekly (Thursday and Sunday) on Embraer E195 jets.
Las Vegas (LAS)
- San Bernardino, California: Twice-weekly flights (Thursday and Sunday) begin Feb. 16 on Airbus A220 jets.
Orlando (MCO)
- Akron-Canton, Ohio: Twice-weekly flights (Wednesday and Saturday) begin March 1 on Embraer E195 jets.
- Bentonville/Fayetteville, Arkansas: Twice-weekly flights (Monday and Friday) begin March 3 on Embraer E195 jets.
- Huntsville, Alabama: Twice-weekly flights (Thursday and Sunday) begin March 2 on Embraer E195 jets.
- Tulsa: Twice-weekly flights (Wednesday and Saturday) begin March 1 on Embraer E195 jets.
Phoenix (PHX)
- Bentonville/Fayetteville, Arkansas: Twice-weekly flights (Monday and Friday) begin Feb 17 on Embraer E195 jets.
- Hartford: Twice-weekly flights (Thursday and Sunday) begin Feb 9 on Airbus A220 jets.
- Richmond, Virginia: Twice-weekly flights (Monday and Friday) begin Feb 10 on Airbus A220 jets.
- New Orleans: One-stop, same-plane service begins Feb. 17. Flights are twice weekly (Monday and Friday) on Embraer E195 jets.
Richmond, Virginia (RIC)
- Phoenix: Twice-weekly flights (Monday and Friday) begin Feb 10 on Airbus A220 jets.
San Bernardino, California (SBD)
- Las Vegas: Twice-weekly flights (Thursday and Sunday) begin Feb. 16 on Airbus A220 jets.
- Hartford, Connecticut: One-stop, same-plane service begins Feb 16. Flights are twice weekly (Thursday and Sunday) on Airbus A220 jets.
San Francisco (SFO)
- Cincinnati: Twice-weekly flights (Wednesday and Saturday) begin Feb 8 on Airbus A220 jets.
Tulsa, Oklahoma (TUL)
- Orlando: Twice-weekly flights (Wednesday and Saturday) begin March 1 on Embraer E195 jets.
- Charleston, South Carolina: One-stop, same-plane service begins March 1. Flights are twice weekly (Wednesday and Saturday) on Embraer E195 jets.
White Plains/Westchester County, New York (HPN)
- Vero Beach, Florida: Twice-weekly flights (Monday and Friday) begin Feb 3 on Embraer E195 jets. A third weekly flight begins Feb. 16, when the schedule moves to Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.