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Breeze Airways Airbus A220
With its markets starting to mature and economies of scale driving down costs, Breeze Airways has now “passed the transition point where the revenues are higher than the expenses,” founder and CEO David Neeleman tells Aviation Week.
“That gives us a lot of latitude to do a lot of things,” he says. The carrier has described “tremendous” revenue growth in 2024, after achieving its first monthly operating profit in March as it neared its third anniversary. “Our margins have been, on average, about 30 points better in every single quarter until we get to the fourth quarter, where we expect to be positive,” said Neeleman. “We’ve grown big, significantly—about more than doubled the revenue in the year—and to be able to have unit revenue that is 20% higher is quite an accomplishment for our team.”
Aiming for “a full year of profitability” in 2025, Neeleman described plans for fewer new markets in the year ahead, perhaps less than half the total number of cities it opened in 2024, while adding frequencies to existing routes and still expecting to launch international scheduled service. That expansion will likely start in Mexico and the Caribbean, with potential for Europe further down the road. The carrier is also eyeing Hawaii and South America for future service.
The Utah-based carrier currently operates 31 in-service Airbus A220-300s, according to the Aviation Week Network Fleet Discovery database, with 59 remaining on order for delivery through 2028. The A220 fleet has enabled Breeze to capitalize on consumer preferences for premium, with 41% of its 137 seats offering first class or extra legroom, its two- and three-row layout conductive to first class configurations. “We can offer first class for a significantly lower price and still make more money on that,” notes Neeleman.
Meanwhile, other U.S. low-cost and ultra-low-cost carriers (ULCCs) are working to change their own cabins and product offerings to better align with premium demand. Frontier Airlines will equip its A320 family fleet with first class seating in 2025, while Neeleman-founded JetBlue Airways will add domestic first class to all non-Mint aircraft in 2026. Spirit Airlines has introduced European-style business class, by blocking the middle seat in upfront rows.
Among other product shifts, the changes are evolving what it means to be a ULCC in the U.S.—but serial airline founder Neeleman doesn’t see the model as dead.
“I think there’s a market for it,” he says, as their offerings evolve. “I do think they’ll survive and I think the way to really survive and maybe start to thrive again is if they’re merged,” nodding to previous attempts by Spirit and Frontier. Recent restarted talks between the two were discontinued just before Spirit filed for Chapter 11. Said Neeleman: “If you can get the synergies of not competing with each other where they have maybe a 40% overlap, and you can combine station operations on the cost side, and combine corporate headquarters and not [have] crazy growth ... I think there’s a space for them to not just survive, but to do well.”
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