US start-up carrier Breeze Airways is targeting a stronghold maintained by rival discounter Avelo Airlines by planning to launch 10 new routes out of New Haven, Connecticut.
Breeze announced on 13 August that it will start flying out of Tweed-New Haven airport in December, beginning with flights to Fort Myers, Orlando, West Palm Beach and Vero Beach. It will launch flights to six additional destinations in February.
“From day one, our playbook has included significant growth across the Northeast region of the US due to the high population density and limited nonstop travel options,” says Lukas Johnson, Breeze’s chief commercial officer.
The announcement effectively ignites a turf war with Houston-headquartered Avelo, which identifies itself as “Connecticut’s airline” and has worked to entrench itself at Tweed-New Haven.
On the same day, Avelo said it would expand the number of Boeing 737-800s it has positioned at the Southern Connecticut airport, “doubling the year-over-year number of big airplanes, allowing for more customer capacity during the winter flying period”.
“Avelo will have eight aircraft dedicated to [Tweed-New Haven] and over half of the company’s 19 aircraft will be dedicated to the state of Connecticut,” says the start-up.
Tweed-New Haven airport has served as one of Avelo’s primary bases since November 2021 and has proven to be a critical hub in the carrier’s network. It has grown to become Avelo’s largest base, with 250 crew members and flights connecting to 27 cities.
Avelo and Breeze are relatively new entrants to the US discounter market, having launched their first passenger flights roughly a month apart in the first half of 2021. Both are vying to establish long-term market share in the highly competitive low-cost carrier segment.
