America's third-smallest state is home to the hottest airline turf battle

America's third-smallest state by land mass is suddenly at the center of the nation's latest airline turf war.

Leading the way in this fight over Connecticut runway real estate? The U.S. airline industry's two newest carriers: Avelo Airlines and Breeze Airways.

Last month, Avelo made headlines when it announced its first-ever service from the Nutmeg State's biggest airport, Hartford's Bradley International Airport (BDL), starting this fall.

The new routes were notable for a few reasons.

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For one, it was Avelo's first international expansion. The list of new routes from Hartford included nonstop service to Cancun, Mexico, and Montego Bay, Jamaica — flights that begin in November.

By expanding to Hartford, Avelo also broadened its Connecticut footprint beyond Tweed New Haven Airport (HVN), a tiny airport about an hour's drive from Hartford, where Avelo is currently the only airline — and where it has based a lot of its Northeast growth.

Adding service from Hartford, Avelo executives say, was a practical move. It doubles down on the airline's breakneck growth in Connecticut — not to mention, allows it to gain access to BDL's international arrivals facilities.

"It's not some big deviation or change from what we've been doing," Trevor Yealy, Avelo's head of commercial, said in a recent interview with TPG. "We've got a phenomenal customer base in and around New Haven and Connecticut."

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But Hartford is also where fellow newcomer airline Breeze has proclaimed its own plans to add flights at a rapid pace in the coming years — including its own future international expansion from the airport.

Now, that alone might not amount to a gloves-off, Avelo-Breeze showdown.

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After all, airlines across the board are adding tons of flights to and from Hartford: This winter (between October and April), airlines will fly with 20% more seats out of the airport than last year, according to data from aviation analytics firm Cirium. This is led by 40% growth by United Airlines, 35% growth by JetBlue and 20% growth by American Airlines.

But then things got a little more interesting.

New Haven showdown

On Aug. 13, Breeze announced its own Connecticut expansion, revealing it would join Avelo at New Haven, becoming just the second airline at an airport that, until recently, had gone several years without regularly scheduled commercial service.

In the process, Breeze will compete with Avelo directly on more than a half dozen routes between New Haven and the Southeast.

What say the airlines?

"We're just going to focus on what we do, what we can control ... and that doesn't change whether there's another carrier at New Haven or not," Avelo's Yealy said, pointing to the carrier's 30-plus nonstop destinations from the airport.

Breeze, for its part, says its expansion to New Haven was a natural part of a Northeast-centric growth.

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"Providence is a large base. Hartford is a good base. We've got a good amount of service in Westchester, Stewart launched earlier this year and is going well," Lukas Johnson, Breeze's chief commercial officer, said about the carrier's existing presence in the region — including at the latter two airports in New York state.

In Breeze's eyes, New Haven, he said, remains a market ripe for more service.

"It's a highly dense, highly populated area," Johnson said.

But he was quick to highlight the product differences you'll find on Breeze, which offers a handful of seat and ticket types, versus Avelo, which offers a more traditional ultra-low-cost product.

"It's two fairly different models," Johnson said. "We've got premium seating, a first-class seating section, you've got Wi-Fi, you've got streaming content, snacks and beverages that are catered ... you've got a loyalty program and a credit card, so it's a little bit of a different model."

Does Avelo have a frequent flyer program?

For its part, Avelo points to its high operational reliability scores as a feather in its cap and says it will offer a frequent flyer program in the future — though it's still mulling what that might look like.

"It's something we discuss frequently," Yealy said.

"Everybody in the airline industry today has got the credit cards and the frequent flyer programs," he continued. "What we want to make sure is that we're carefully evaluating 'What does the future of airline loyalty look like?' and not just simply follow suit with what everybody else is doing today."

That being said, Avelo does have a partnership with Capital One. New cardholders with the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card can earn up to $200 in statement credits when opening a card and booking a flight on the airline within the first year. They'll also get priority boarding on Avelo for the first year.

Plus, all new cardholders are eligible to earn 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first three months from account opening. The card carries a $95 annual fee.

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New England is a hotbed for new flights

Though Connecticut has recently proven to be something of a flashpoint in the ascent of America's two newest airlines, it was somewhat inevitable that Breeze and Avelo would cross paths at some point.

Both carriers have placed a premium on adding service out of "secondary airports" of major metropolitan areas.

Look no further than Avelo's recent expansion to Lakeland, Florida — between Orlando and Tampa — or its new base in California's wine country.

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"A lot of these smaller routes, I think people look up and scratch their head and say, 'Gee, is that really going to work?'" Yealy said. "And, what you find is, yeah — there's a huge community of interest in a lot of these cities across the country."

Bottom line

The expansion by Breeze and Avelo comes at a time when many U.S. airlines are rethinking their route maps amid surging domestic capacity that's pushed fares down — to the delight of consumers and the ire of airlines.

In upending their route maps, a handful of airlines have doubled down on the Northeast. JetBlue, for one, has bolstered its New England capacity, adding service out of smaller cities and upping its focus on its longtime Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) hub.

Across the region, the total number of seats on commercial flights from New England will be up 15% over last year, per Cirium. They'll be up by a quarter year over year in Connecticut alone.

That includes new nonstop service Avelo recently announced from its New Haven base to Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY), plus stepped-up capacity to San Juan, Puerto Rico. The carrier also recently extended its East Coast schedule for booking through April 2025.

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