Breeze Airways — Tweed’s second and newest airline — promises to use quieter aircraft starting on its first take-off in December. Residents living near the airport, who have complained of noise pollution for months, aren’t impressed.
Tyson Odermann
Staff Reporter
Tyson Odermann, Contributing Photographer
Breeze Airways will become Tweed New Haven Airport’s second airline this December. Residents in the surrounding community have raised concerns about elevated air and noise pollution.
In early August, low-cost airline Breeze Airways announced its arrival to Tweed, with flights starting Dec. 10. Breeze announced routes to 11 different locations along the East Coast, including three routes to Florida five days a week.
Breeze will join Avelo Airlines, the only airline offered at Tweed since November 2021. The move comes as part of Breeze’s strategy to expand its operations to airports across the northeast, which was met with pushback from local residents.
“[Noise] is certainly a big issue with Tweed and the residents, so we are flying the next generation of aircraft that is much quieter and smaller, more efficient on that side, more fuel efficient per seat,” Lukas Johnson, Breeze’s chief commercial officer, told the News, addressing noise pollution — a common issue for members of the surrounding communities.
Breeze will use Airbus A220s, while Avelo currently uses Boeing Next-Generation 737s. The News could not independently verify the noise levels of the two aircraft.
Lorena Venegas, a resident of East Haven who lives less than two miles from the airport, believes that Breeze’s quieter aircraft won’t have a positive benefit for the community.
“Our problem is cumulative noise,” Venegas said. “For Breeze, I’d want them to build a bridge with the community by writing a strong, voluntary agreement plan that would actually be feasible … We don’t want airplanes coming in and out after 9 [p.m.], and we don’t want planes before 7 [a.m.].”
Residents of the nearby neighborhood echoed Venegas’s concerns about noise and air pollution as Tweed continues to increase the number of flights coming in and out of the airport.
According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Tweed saw an over 1,100 percent increase of 57 thousand to 701 thousand total passengers from 2021 to 2022.
Sam Sigg DIV ’03, a New Haven resident, also flagged the future noise level of Breeze’s aircraft.
“I read about the kind of planes and the engines that are supposedly cleaner and quieter, but jet airliners taking off is going to make a lot of noise, and I’m really concerned,” Sigg told the News. “It’s very upsetting to me that my quality of life is going to be hugely impacted with the addition of Breeze and the doubling or tripling of flights.”
Sigg and Venegas both shared that the economic impact of Breeze coming to the airport would be negligible compared to the depreciation of property value in the area. Increased noise, as well as possible environmental pollution, could lead to decreased housing value in the area, residents said.
While frustrated by the expansion of a new airline to Tweed, Jody Rowell, a New Havener who lives near the airport, hopes that Breeze beats its competitor, Avelo, out of the airport.
“I’m hoping that Breeze has quieter airplanes, but I’m also hoping that Breeze actually knocks Avelo out,” Rowell told the News. “I really do feel Avelo is not respectful to the community, and I think their airplanes are super old.”
Venegas, Rowell and Sigg criticized Tweed’s grander plan to expand the airport and believe that bringing Breeze into Tweed is just another step towards that expansion.
Tweed-New Haven Airport did not respond to a request for comment.
“Our life is over here. We’ve invested over here. And when a jet takes off, it does disrupt everything,” Siggs said
Tweed Airport is located at 155 Burr St.