If you haven’t been paying attention to the rise of Breeze Airways, you probably should. Serial airline entrepreneur David Neeleman launched the carrier earlier this year at a time when the future of air travel looked grim.
But it hasn’t turned out that way for Breeze. As air travel bounced back this spring, the airline expanded to 16 destinations, mostly on the East Coast, and it just secured $200 million in funding.
What does the arrival of Breeze mean for the airline industry, and how could a “Breeze effect” affect your next flight? I asked Neeleman. Here’s our interview.
You just secured $200 million in funding for Breeze Airways. Congratulations. How did you manage that during a pandemic?
Breeze is my fifth airline, so that would be down to a great track record, I suppose. But this is the right airline for the right time, and our investors see that.
I’ve never started an airline just for the fun of it, though. There has to be a great opportunity. In this case, there are many secondary cities across the U.S. which no longer have access to nonstop flights. And flying through hubs doesn’t just take longer, it’s usually more expensive too. Investors recognize that our model is going to be really successful, pandemic or not.
What is this funding going to allow you to do? How will it affect the customer experience?
It will affect customer experience and much, much more. It means more fleet growth, more destinations and frequencies, more staff, more everything. But, more than anything else, it means we’re here to stay. That we have a war chest to withstand our bigger competitors if they should come after us.
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