Just a year after starting operations, Breeze Airways took another step in its aviation journey by officially launching the Airbus A220 aircraft earlier this month. The aircraft’s range and economics are expected to help the carrier expand its network, making longer coast-to-coast routes possible and saving almost a quarter of the fuel on each flight.

Game changer

Breeze Airways officially launched its Airbus A220 service between Richmond International Airport (RIC) to San Francisco International Airport (SFO) on June 8th. While the carrier had begun flying the plane a few weeks earlier, the inaugural event was postponed due to scheduling challenges with its CEO David Neeleman and some delays in the plane’s FAA certification.

During the launch event, Neeleman was on the transcontinental flight and commented,

“The A220-300 is a game-changer for us as we can now serve guests coast-to-coast! The A220 offers travelers the widest cabin, highest ceiling, largest windows, and biggest overhead stowage in this class, while still managing to burn 25% less fuel, with half the noise footprint of past generations.”

More possibilities

Neeleman started the airline with the intention to offer passengers nonstop service between small and midsize cities that lacked direct routes. With the A220, it can do just that as the aircraft can connect any two cities in the US, allowing Breeze to offer direct flights to and from some smaller coastal towns.

By this summer, Breeze plans to operate 18 transcontinental routes with the A220 from cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas.

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The airline’s CEO is also keen on using the A220’s range to explore international routes and thinks there’s a lot of potential in the Caribbean, Central America, South America, and even Europe from the Northeast.

Breeze’s A220s come in two cabin configurations – 126 seats and 137 seats. The first has 36 first class seats (branded as Nicest) and 10 extra legroom seats (branded as Nicer). The airline plans to use these premium heavy planes on longer flights, with Neeleman explaining to Airways Magazine:

“The longer the flight, the more people are willing to upgrade to pay more. If it’s a shorter flight, then they’re more content in the back. The longer these flights go, then the more we have the First-Class seats.”

Breeze has 80 of these airplanes on order, with the option of another 40. It expects to see at least 14 A220s delivered by the end of 2022.

A good year

Breeze started operations on May 27th, 2021, with a fleet of leased Embraer E190 and E195 jets as a leisure-driven carrier, focusing on small and medium-sized cities. A year on, it has a presence in more than 30 airports across the US, with the A220 expected to up that number soon.

At the beginning of this year, Breeze had suggested that it aims to have 70 aircraft serving 70 cities by 2024, a goal that seems achievable looking at its progress.

Have you flown Breeze Airways? What do you think about the airline? Please let us know in the comment section below.

Source: Airways Magazine