By Joey Gerardi
Breeze Airways Faces a Lull Following Schedule Changes
Breeze Airways, an upstart carrier founded by the creator of jetBlue Airways, David Neeleman, has already hit some bumps in one of their inaugural flights and has announced the reduction of some flights. In addition to jetBlue and Breeze, David Neeleman also founded Brizillian carrier ‘Azul’ and Canadian airlines ‘WestJet’.
Breeze Airways follows the lead of Avelo in reducing flights not too long after beginning them, but unlike Avelo, they haven’t announced the discontinuation of any cities just yet. At least 13-routes have been affected by this network reduction, cutting each route by half by going from four flights a week to just two.
Just over a week ago, the airline launched flights from Huntsville, Ala. on July 15, 2021, with the first flights heading to Charleston, S.C. and New Orleans, but the inaugural flight was over an hour late. The airline gave each passenger reimbursement for the flight that they can use for future travel with the carrier. They began Huntsville to Tampa on July 22, 2021.
In a statement from the airline, which was acquired by Alabama News, the airline said, “The decision to make these schedule changes is to minimize delays experienced with unpredictable summer weather and slower than expected fleet growth.”
Flights affected by this reduction are the following:
Charleston, S.C. to Columbus, Ohio; Huntsville, Alab. ; Pittsburg, Penn.; Richmond, Vir.; Norfolk, Vir.; and Louisville, Kent.
Huntsville, Alab. to New Orleans; Charleston, S.C.; and Tampa.
Norfolk, Vir. to Columbus, Ohio; Charleston, S.C.; and Pittsburg, Penn
San Antonio, Texas to Oklahoma City, Okla.; Tulsa, Okla.; and Fayetteville, Ark.
The flight reductions begin on July 19, 2021, with the city of Charleston, S.C. is the station most affected by the schedule reductions. In total there are currently 13 routes that are going from four flights a week to just two, meaning that they are reducing operations across their network by at least 26 flights a week.
These are currently the only flights affected, but as we head out of the busy summer season and kids head back to school there could be more service reductions on the way.