Breeze begins Las Vegas service, adds 11th city from Reid Airport

Breeze Airways, an ultra-low-cost commercial air carrier established a year ago, operated its first flight to and from Harry Reid International Airport on Thursday.

It also announced it would offer flights to an 11th city from Las Vegas. Beginning Oct. 6, the Utah-based carrier will begin nonstop round-trip flights between Las Vegas and Akron-Canton Airport in Ohio.

Breeze will operate the flights on new twin-engine Airbus A220 jets holding 126 passengers.

The airline plans to more than double its fleet this year, from 13 Embraer 190 and 195 twin-engine jets to 30 aircraft, including 14 A220s and three additional Embraer E-jets. Breeze has ordered 80 new Airbus A220-300 jets that will be delivered one per month over the next six years with options for 40 more.

The startup of Richmond, Virginia, service Thursday began the first of three consecutive days of new flights and destinations for Breeze, which began operations May 27, 2021, with service between Tampa, Florida, and Charleston, South Carolina.

On Friday, nonstop round trips begin between Las Vegas and Syracuse, New York, and on Saturday, flights begin between Las Vegas and Fort Myers, Florida.

Breeze founder and CEO David Neeleman said the rapid rollout of flight destinations should benefit Las Vegas’ tourism economy. He said Thursday’s flight from Richmond was full, but what surprised him was that about 80 of 126 seats returning to Richmond were purchased with minimal marketing efforts.

“Where did they come from?” Neeleman asked during an interview at Reid International after the arrival of the first flight. “I guess people here want to go to Richmond and Charleston and all the places we fly.”

Neeleman also explained that by getting an aircraft and operating only twice a week, Breeze can add destinations more rapidly.

“When you don’t fly daily, when you get a plane, you can add a couple of different destinations at one time. That works good and we have a new plane coming every month for the next 10 years, so there are a lot of planes coming in and a lot of destinations we want to fly (to).”

Flying to Las Vegas was a natural fit for Breeze, Neeleman said.

“People in the Midwest love to come to Vegas,” he said. “Vegas is such a great destination. If it’s a hassle where you have to make a connection and you have to pay more and you don’t get to go first class unless you have to pay a really high fare, you don’t come as often. Now people can come two or three times a year instead of making one annual trip.”

Breeze has tiered pricing with different benefits including first-class seating, priority boarding, drinks and snacks and the highest level of loyalty points at the highest levels.

At all levels, there are no cancellation fees or change fees.

“We’re a seriously nice airline and I hope people will come give us a try,” Neeleman said, capitalizing on one of the company’s taglines. “The app is easy and fast. We don’t have any change or cancellation fees so if you decide not to come, you can use your credit for another time. We won’t ding you. We’re trying to be as friendly and user-friendly as we possibly can.”

Neeleman said that among the Las Vegas destinations flown down he’s most excited about are nonstop flights to Huntsville, Alabama, that begin Aug. 4.

“We’re really excited about Huntsville,” he said. “If you want to go see a space camp, kids go to space camp and can go see the best rocket museum I’ve ever seen in Huntsville.”

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on Twitter.