Over the last half-decade, Florida has been getting increasingly popular.
While the Sunshine State has always been a beloved destination for sun-starved vacationers and retirees, the pandemic and rise of remote work have accelerated the arrival of many new residents — the jump between 21,828,069 Floridians in 2021 to 22,244,823 at the end of 2022 gives it the fastest population growth in the country and a major source of housing inflation in the state.
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Tapping into a growing demand from people traveling between Florida, Breeze Airways has been looking to expand its routes to and from the state.
Underserved Cities Getting New Routes to Florida
On July 18, the Utah-based low-cost carrier announced that it was adding 11 new routes with a particular focus on Fort Myers on the Gulf Coast.
"With fall and winter quickly approaching, we know many people from the Northeast and Midwest will be looking to travel to the great beaches and warmer weather Fort Myers has to offer," Breeze CEO David Neeleman told media outlets in a statement.
An aviation industry insider also behind JetBlue (JBLU) -) and Canada's WestJet, Neeleman founded Breeze Airways in 2021 as an alternative to competitors such as Spirit Airlines (SAVE) -) and Southwest (LUV) -).
The airline's goals have always been to tap into less popular routes and underserved destinations — as such, the new routes stay away from Miami and Orlando and focus on Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW) — the new flights include flights from Ohio's Akron and Columbus, Kentucky's Louisville, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Raleigh-Durham as well as Virginia's Norfolk and Richmond and Syracuse in upstate New York.
The two other new routes include a twice-weekly flight between Rhode Island's Providence and Jacksonville International Airport as well as a seasonal route from the cold capital to Vero Beach Regional Airport along the state's eastern coast.
Entering New Markets
"We are extremely pleased about Breeze Airways announcing nine new nonstop cities at Southwest Florida International Airport," the airport's Executive Director Ben Siegel said in a statement. "Breeze will be significantly increasing their presence at RSW this November, including five markets not currently being served."
While some are permanent and others seasonal, the eleven routes will all begin in November and bring Breeze's total nonstop flights to Florida to 58. The airline also flies to popular Florida hotspots like Miami, Orlando, Sarasota, Tampa and West Palm Beach but the Fort Myers presence will help Breeze Airways carve out a presence that is much less well-served by other airlines.
At the end of 2022, the airline also added a similar rush of new routes to and from Las Vegas. As with the reset of Breeze's routes, the aircraft used will be a combination of Airbus A220 (EADSF) -) and Embraer 190/195.
To promote the new routes, Breeze is also offering early bookers ultra-low fares — the first fares between Kentucky and Fort Myers will start at $49 while one-way routes from Akron, Columbus and Pittsburgh begin at $59 during less popular days.
The most expensive routes will be the ones going to and from Providence but still begin at just $79 when service starts on November 2.
