Breeze's first scheduled flight took off on May 27th, 2021, exactly one year ago when this article was written. The flight was MX1, a special and appropriate one-off number to mark the historic event. It routed Tampa to Charleston using N190BZ, an Embraer 195, shown in the photo above.

And now, a year on, it has inaugurated transcontinental service to San Francisco using the A220, which will become its core type. To mark its first birthday, it is speculated that Breeze will announce new routes today, May 27th, 2022. They haven't been revealed yet, but if an announcement is made, it'll be covered separately.

Breeze: a summary

Breeze is a leisure-driven carrier. It focuses on small and medium-sized cities and unserved routes – only a tiny percentage have head-to-head competition. This summer, it has an average sector length of 767 miles (1,234km) and almost always sub-daily flights.

Currently, some 31 airports comprise Breeze's network. Charleston is the most served, followed by Tampa, Norfolk, Hartford, and Richmond. At the start of this year, it was suggested that it'll have 70 aircraft and serve 70 cities by 2024, and it is on its way to that level.

In early March, Breeze added 30 new non-stop routes involving ten airports that were new to its network. These included San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Bernardino on the West Coast and, further inland, Las Vegas. Two months later, Provo, not far from Salt Lake City, materialized with five initial routes. There is no sign yet of planned international service.

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San Francisco begins

Breeze commenced San Francisco on May 25th, an important next step in its network development. Richmond to San Francisco was the inaugural airport pair (and also Breeze's first coast-to-coast route) followed by Charleston-San Francisco on May 26th and Louisville-San Francisco on May 27th.

All three routes use the A220, marking the type's introduction into commercial service for Breeze. Operating 2x weekly, they originate and end in Tampa to increase aircraft utilization to four sectors per aircraft. For example, aircraft run Tampa-Louisville-San Francisco-Louisville-Tampa.

Breeze's summer 2022 network
In a little over a year, Breeze's summer 2022 network is substantial through careful network planning and market research. Image: GCMap.

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Breeze's ten longest routes

This summer, Breeze's ten longest routes are as follows, led by Providence to Los Angeles. It has a 6h 15m block time to California. When it takes off in June, aircraft will route Norfolk-Providence-Los Angeles-Providence-Norfolk.

  1. Providence to Los Angeles: 2,592 miles (4,172km); starts June 29th, 2x weekly
  2. Westchester (White Plains) to Los Angeles: 2,477 miles (3,986km); September 7th, 1x daily
  3. Richmond to San Francisco: 2,449 miles (3,941km); already started
  4. Charleston to San Francisco: 2,396 miles (3,855km); already started
  5. Norfolk to Los Angeles: 2,371 miles (3,816km); June 30th, 2x weekly
  6. Hartford to Las Vegas: 2,297 miles (3,697km); September 7th, 2x weekly
  7. Westchester (White Plains) to Las Vegas: 2,249 miles (3,619km); September 8th, 2x weekly
  8. Norfolk to Las Vegas: 2,154 miles (3,467km); September 9th, 2x weekly
  9. Savannah to Los Angeles: 2,151 miles (3,462km); July 1st, 2x weekly
  10. Syracuse to Las Vegas: 2,119 miles (3,411km); June 10th, 2x weekly

Have you flown Breeze yet? If so, share your experiences in the comments.