Breeze Airways is a US carrier that bills itself as a ‘nice low-cost carrier.’ Since beginning operations in May 2021, the airline has grown to include over 150 nonstop routes. Its primary focus is connecting secondary cities with other previously unserved destinations on routes that face no competition.
Becoming Breeze Airways.
Readers of the site would be familiar with the name of Moxy, a moniker initially given to the new carrier in its infancy. However, at the turn of 2020, it became evident that the airline had gone in a different direction, referring to itself as Breeze. Simple Flying spoke with Gianfranco “Panda” Beting, the man behind the branding of the new outfit, about the launch and how the airline got its final name.
Beting is a household name in global aviation. The Brazil-born entrepreneur has released a series of books about the industry. He has been behind the growth of airlines such as Brazil’s Azul, where he was co-founder and brand, product, and communications director.
Photo: Alexander Mitchell | Simple Flying.
He was approached by Breeze’s leadership and tasked with creating the brand for the new airline being developed by David Neeleman, the man behind several other high-profile airlines, including JetBlue, WestJet, and Azul Brazilian Airlines.
Having to adapt
The first name chosen for the airline was Moxy, which is in reference to the fact that it would take a lot of moxie to launch a carrier in the competitive climate at the time. However, the team soon had to change the name due to the existence of a hotel chain going by the same name across the United States. Thanks to a bit of pressure from Airbus, Beting told Simple Flying, the team decided on Breeze:
“I first started with a list of names. On that very first list, Breeze was there because that was pretty much answering the original briefing, which was, ‘we want to make life easier for our customers. We want to make a flying experience that is seriously nice for the travelers. So, we’re talking about something that needs to be easy, something that needs to be approachable, something that needs to be human. It’s got to be nice and easy. It’s got to be a Breeze. Airbus started to put pressure on the livery. We wanted to see how the planes are going to be painted. That needed to be done by December 15th, 2019. The clock was ticking. So, we came up with the final winner.”
Photo: Airbus
There were over 100 names on the list in question, but Breeze won out in the end.
Growing to scale
Breeze Airways announced early on that it wanted to operate the versatile Airbus A220. So far, the carrier has ordered 80 Airbus A220s, with options for 40 more, and currently operates a fleet of 35 aircraft. This is split between 18 Airbus A220-300s, which can carry 126-137 passengers, ten Embraer E190s, which seat 108 passengers, and seven Embraer E195s, which carry 118-124 people.
The carrier utilizes its fleet to offer flights to and from underserved markets by adding nonstops between cities without existing service. Breeze Airways frequently expands and updates its flight offering, adding another 14 routes to seven new cities in 2024. In total, Breeze offers a mix of more than 150 year-round and seasonal nonstop routes between 38 cities in 23 states.
In just over two years, the airline has grown to become the biggest airline in nine of its markets. It carried over two million guests in the first three quarters of 2023 alone. Next year is looking to be even bigger, with over 2,500 monthly flights scheduled across its network.
What are your thoughts about Breeze Airways and its name? Have you flown on Breeze already? Let us know in the comments.