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Breeze Airways names Fort Myers next 'base of operations'

By October, the company will serve 19 destinations from RSW - with five new routes starting in October.
1st Breeze A220 - MSN55128 - Exiting Paint
Posted at 1:11 PM, Apr 09, 2024
and last updated 2024-04-09 13:40:02-04


On Tuesday, Breeze Airways announced Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW) is set to become a 'new base of operations' for its airline.

The company says starting on October 1st, Breeze will base pilots, flight attendants and 3 aircraft at RSW.

The airline says since its debut in Fort Myers, Breeze has seen rapid growth.

On Tuesday, April 9th, the company announced that March was the airline's first full month of operating profit.

FOX 4's Shari Armstrong spoke with the airline's CEO, David Neeleman.

Breeze is Neeleman’s 5th airline start-up after Morris Air, WestJet (Canada), JetBlue, and Azul (Brazil).

According to Breeze, Neeleman was the first to create e-ticketing for airlines while at Morris Air.

Neelman says the company's success in Fort Myers is partially tied to timeliness.

"I think we were one of the first to come in big after the hurricane. A lot of services pulled out, so we just started adding."

By October, the company will serve 19 destinations from RSW - with five new routes starting in October.

Neeleman says customer service, quality and the type of aircraft used is part of what sets this airline apart.

"This is the Airbus A220. There's only a few airlines in the United States that fly this airplane. We'll have the largest fleet of these aircrafts in the world when we take all of our deliveries. This aircraft has range. It can fly to Vegas. It can fly to LA. It's got big windows. It's the newest generation airplane in the sky."

According to Airbus, the airline is Breeze the third largest customer worldwide for the A220.

You can catch Breeze Airways flights from RSW to the following destinations:

  • Akron/Canton, OH; Charleston, SC; Columbus, OH; Hartford, CT; Las Vegas, NV; Louisville, KY; New Orleans, LA; Norfolk, VA; Pittsburgh, PA; Portland, ME; Providence, RI; Raleigh/Durham, NC; Richmond, VA; and Syracuse, NY nonstop.

Additional flights that will be available starting October 1st include:

  • Manchester, NH (Seasonal, Wed and Sat, starting October 2).
  • Stewart/Newburgh, NY (Seasonal, Wed and Sat, starting Oct 2, one way from $89*);
  • Lansing, MI (Seasonal, Thurs and Sun, starting Oct 3, one way from $89*); 
  • Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, PA (Seasonal, Thurs and Sun, starting Oct 3,  from $89*); and
  • Bangor, ME (Seasonal, Wed and Sat, starting Oct 5, one way from $99*).

You can find deals and more information here.