US start-up carrier Breeze Airways is on track to launch its first international flights early in 2025.
Chief executive David Neeleman told FlightGlobal on 17 December that Salt Lake City-based Breeze is “in the process” of securing US flag carrier status with the Federal Aviation Administration.
Breeze is already flying internationally with its charter operation and is now ”waiting for our scheduled service authority”, Neeleman says.
“I’m pretty confident we’ll get that done in the first quarter,” he adds.
Since launching in May 2021, Breeze has found success by flying to smaller, underserved airports throughout the USA. Rival start-up Avelo Airlines employs a similar model.
Breeze’s primary aircraft is the Airbus A220-300, a single-aisle twinjet with a range of 3,800nm (6,110km) that could eventually be used for ocean-crossing flights.
It is targeting near-international destinations in the Caribbean, Mexico and Latin America for its first scheduled commercial operations outside of the USA.
The carrier has also applied for an ETOPS – or extended-range twin-engine operational performance standards – certification to fly over long stretches of water. That would enable flights between Hawaii and mainland USA, as well as from the East Coast to Europe, though chief guest officer Fiona Kiesel told Airline Business in October that such flights are not imminent.
“The A220 is still a newer aircraft and we want to get a lot of flying on it,” she said. “We know it has the range to potentially do Scotland and Ireland. Before we go to that part of the world, I think we may look at Hawaii – but, again, a few years out.”
For now, the 137-seat A220 is the right-sized aircraft for less-travelled domestic destinations, she says.
