Breeze tracking to secure international authority in first quarter | News

US start-up airline Breeze Airways is on track to launch its first international flights in early 2025.

CEO David Neeleman told FlightGlobal on December 17 that Salt Lake City-based Breeze is “in the process” of securing US flag carrier status with the Federal Aviation Administration.

Breeze already flies internationally with its charter operation and is “now awaiting our scheduled service authority,” Neeleman says.

“I’m pretty confident we’ll get it done in the first quarter,” he adds.

Since launching in May 2021, Breeze has found success flying to smaller, underserved airports across the United States. Rival start-up Avelo Airlines uses a similar model.

Breeze’s primary aircraft is the Airbus A220-300, a single-aisle twinjet with a range of 3,800 nm (6,110 km), which may eventually be used for transoceanic flights.

It is targeting near-international destinations in the Caribbean, Mexico and Latin America for its first scheduled commercial operations outside the United States.

The airline has also applied for an ETOPS – or extended range twin-engine operational performance standards – certification to fly over long stretches of water. That would enable flights between Hawaii and the US mainland, as well as from the East Coast to Europe, although Chief Guest Officer Fiona Kiesel told Airline Business in October that such flights are not imminent.

“The A220 is still a newer aircraft and we want to fly it a lot,” she said. “We know it has the range to potentially do Scotland and Ireland. Before we go to that part of the world, I think we might look at Hawaii – but again, a couple of years out.”

For now, the A220 has 137 seats plane in the right size to less traveled domestic destinations, she says.