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Manchester Mayor Jay Ruais tours an Airbus A220-300 that arrived from Charleston, SC, as Breeze Airways celebrated its first flight to Manchester-Boston Regional Airport on June 14. (Photo by Trisha Nail)

As he inspected the overhead cabins of an airplane, Manchester Mayor Jay Ruais couldn’t help but admire the plane’s spacious interior, flanked by city and airport officials.

“For the quality, the comfort and the price, you can’t beat it,” Ruais said after stepping off the aircraft.

The plane, an Airbus A220-300 with its livery adorned in the logo and striking blue colors of Breeze Airways, marked the low-cost carrier’s first arrival at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport (MHT) on June 14.

“The cost just to fly one way back can be $59; you can’t beat it, especially to get some flights going down south to Charleston and Orlando,” Ruais said. “My folks live just outside of Tampa, so I’m fired up for that (Orlando flight) just to go see my parents.”

Indeed, the flight — one of four scheduled under Breeze that day — had flown nonstop from Charleston, South Carolina, in the morning before returning to the southern city that afternoon. Another two flights arrived from and departed back to Orlando later that night.

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Capt. Mike Bailey, of Charleston, SC, and a pilot of Breeze Airways, shows off the cockpit of an Airbus A220-300 on June 14 before flying back south after the plane was Breeze’s first flight to and from Manchester. (Photo by Trisha Nail)

Current airfare costs place Breeze flights from Manchester to Charleston at Ruais’ stated $59, while flights to Orlando are $69, according to the airline’s website. The airline will also charter flights from Manchester to Fort Myers, Florida, for $99 beginning Oct. 2, and to Tampa for $84, starting Sept. 5. Flights to Charleston will run seasonally twice weekly, while those to Tampa and Orlando will run year-round twice a week.

Though late-morning rain diminished the effect, the plane arriving from Charleston on June 14 received a celebratory water salute — a common tradition for new airlines making their maiden landing at an airport — from Manchester Fire Department engines that blasted water jets over its surface as it connected to the terminal passenger bridge. MHT Director Ted Kitchens and Cory Christian, Breeze’s East Coast regional manager, followed suit by popping champagne and spraying it onto the nose of the plane.

“I think the secret sauce (to growing Breeze) is putting people on airplanes, and it’s filling up flights,” Christian told an NH Business Review editor. “It’s demonstrating to the airline a commitment of the people within the community that we’re committed to flying out of Manchester.”

As 83 passengers and their five-person flight crew disembarked from the plane arriving from Charleston and stepped into Manchester-Boston Airport, they received a grand welcome with cake, Breeze- and MHT-branded goodies and photo opportunities.

“We’re definitely excited to come in here and start operating and expanding Breeze Airways, hopefully becoming more of a household name for people,” said Capt. Mike Bailey of Charleston, a co-pilot flying to and from the South Carolina city to Manchester.

The number of passengers from Charleston filled about 60% of the Airbus A220-300’s 137-seat capacity. Meanwhile, there were 92 passengers departing from Manchester to Charleston, 76 arriving from Orlando and then 89 departing Manchester to Orlando, per figures shared by an MHT representative.

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MHT Airport Director Ted Kitchens, Manchester Mayor Jay Ruais and Breeze Airways Regional Manager Cory Christian join the flight crew of Breeze’s inaugural arrival at MHT on June 14 to hold a ribbon-cutting. (Photo by Trisha Nail)

A brief round of remarks from Kitchens, Ruais and Christian followed the celebration.

“This marks the addition of a third new airline to MHT’s roster in the past three years,” Kitchens said. “We’re going to do this again to welcome our fourth new airline, (Sun Country Airlines). This is after a gap of 17 years without a new single airline joining the Manchester family, so it is perhaps no surprise just how refreshing it is to see a renewed interest in our market — not only from our existing carriers, but from new entrants making a significant investment in the market like Breeze.”

The low-cost carrier, founded in 2018 with air operations launching in 2021, has undergone aggressive growth in its short history, offering service to 56 destinations, according to Christian. Breeze aims to establish connections to four more cities this year after Manchester, with Bangor, Maine, among them. Earlier in January, Breeze also launched service to Burlington, Vermont, as its other New England destination introduced in 2024.

“If those four routes (to Manchester) do as well as we expect them to, you’ll see more flights and more destinations for Breeze in Manchester as we continue to grow,” Christian said during his public remarks.

The other two carriers new to MHT’s roster include carrier Sun Country Airlines, which plans to offer one flight a week to its home city of Minneapolis beginning Aug. 22; and Avelo, which is already at MHT, and will be adding new flights. Spirit Airlines suspended its service to the airport on May 8.

Both Ruais and Kitchens marveled at the potential economic boost the new connections could bring the city of Manchester and New Hampshire overall.

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Breeze Airways passengers from Charleston, SC, arrive at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport in Londonderry on June 14. (Photo by Trisha Nail)

“The majority of the people that were coming in (from Charleston) were tourists to the region,” Kitchens said. “That’s passengers that are coming that are spending money to stay in our hotels and at our restaurants. They represent about $25 per person in state tax revenues.”

Ruais said Kitchens estimates that “for every person in a seat flying into Manchester, it’s $1,100 to our local community,” with the mayor touting MHT as “the best small airport in the best mid-sized city” in the nation.

“We can’t wait,” Ruais said. “If you walk up and down Elm Street, we have an incredible nightlife. We have incredible restaurants and bars, we have the theater scene with the Palace Theatre and the Rex Theatre, and we’ve got the Fishers Cats playing in a new arena.”

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