![]() ![]() The focus on domestic routes might also be an added boost. “These are real veterans of the airline industry,” Dr. Becky Lutte, an associate professor for the Aviation Institute at the University of Nebraska, Omaha. Training enough staff to get back to pre-pandemic levels will take time.īut perhaps more importantly, Avelo and Breeze are run by two men who, between the two of them, have more than 60 years of experience, notes Dr. ![]() Airlines retired planes years ahead of schedule, and although layoffs were mostly avoided, thousands of employees took early retirement. Still, the upstarts might have a once-in-a-lifetime advantage with the established carriers playing catch up. With travel ticking up, Delta expects a return to profits later this year and American Airlines have announced plans to fly 150 new domestic routes starting in the summer. carriers likely lost upwards of $35 billion in 2020 and only averted wide-scale layoffs with billions in bailout funds from the government. This series of consolidation, combined with a strong economy, helped fuel sky-high industry profits until the pandemic. A series of mergers over the last two decades-with Alaska’s acquisition of Virgin America in 2016 being the most recent-have reduced the number of carriers to three major options and a few smaller airlines. Like Breeze, Avelo will also charge for checked bags, carry-ons, and seat selection while skipping change fees.īreeze and Avelo are the first new major airlines in the U.S. Those prices are introductory, he continues, and will go up and be more in the range of $29 to $39 for one-way flights. have gained a lot of seats, and the secondary ones have grown at a much slower rate, or not at all,” Levy says. The plans for Avelo started in 2018 when airline profits were high and he saw a gap in service at secondary airports in larger markets, like Burbank. Levy helped found Allegiant, another ultra-low-cost carrier, and later served as the chief financial officer for United Airlines. This is David Neeleman’s fifth airline startup-following JetBlue, Morris Air, WestJet, and Azul Brazlian Airlines-and he says through each experience he has learned that providing new options can drive travel. “People are, ‘We are done, we want to travel.’” “What we know is that domestic travel is going to come back strong,” Neeleman says. Although passenger numbers are still down from pre-pandemic levels, David Neeleman, the CEO of Breeze Airways, says the time is right for Breeze. The Utah-based airline raised $100 million and planned to launch in 2020 but was pushed back due to the pandemic. Following the recent trend of other airlines, however, there are no change or cancellation fees. The flights will be priced starting at $39 for one-way fares and will work like many ultra-low-cost carriers and charge for extras like checked bags, carry-ons, and seat selection. Prior to joining Hearst, Amy worked at The San Francisco Chronicle and was a guest contributor for the Pulitzer Center.On Wednesday, Breeze Airways announced its first sets of flights-operating both directions between Charleston, South Carolina to Tampa and Hartford, Connecticut-starting on May 27 with a planned 39 nonstop routes serving 16 cities rolling out over the summer. In her free time, she enjoys all things Taylor Swift, running and trying new recipes. She graduated from Northwestern University with a degrees in journalism and sociology. She often created tools and trackers for residents to explore everything in their zip codes - from walkability to fall foliage to rental prices.Īmy is originally from San Diego. Her reporting took her from open houses inside Connecticut’s hectic housing market to suiting up with local dairy farmers in the Litchfield Hills.Īmy’s deep dives into state and local data allowed her to shed light on the impacts of budget airlines’ expansion across Connecticut as well as how the state’s income gap led to statewide discrepancies in SAT performance. ![]() She could be found covering business, education and real estate matters across Connecticut. Amy Coval was a Trending Reporter for CT Insider who specialized in data-driven stories. ![]()
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