LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Breeze Airways is bringing lower-cost flights to Louisville.
The airline start-up is adding year-round nonstop flights to Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport beginning May 28. Charleston and Tampa will be offered initially, with New Orleans added July 15.
"We have every reason to believe that Breeze Airways is going to be a great addition to our market," said Dan Mann, executive director of the Louisville Regional Airport Authority. "Breeze Airways is one of the most exciting announcements I've had in my career."
Breeze Airways' one-way tickets cost on average between $39 and $49. The airline said it is focused on customer service and bills itself as the "world's nicest airline." Tickets are on sale now at FlyBreeze.com.
With the addition of Breeze Airways, Louisville's airport now offers 35 nonstop destinations on eight airlines for travelers.
"These are all-time records for us," Mann said. "So if you think of where we were a year ago with really nobody traveling, we've been able to continue to grow our air service in the market."
Beginning in June, Louisville will be at nearly 100% of its pre-pandemic travel levels compared to national levels of 80%. Mann said that by mid-June, the airport should be at the same level and capacity that it had prior to the pandemic, and 2018 and 2019 were record-setting years for SDF.
"We were one of the fastest growing airports in the whole country, and the industry noticed that and the airlines noticed that," said Anthony Gilmer, LRAA's director of marketing and air service development.
Airline travel in Louisville took a hit during the pandemic, but the airport is outpacing other cities across the country, which was a major attraction to Breeze Airways. This will be the airport's 8th airline after announcing in February that Spirit would also launch at SDF this spring.
"It's really incredible that we're able to launch another new airline right now," Gilmer said. "It's a huge win for us, because out of all these cities in this region that this new airline was looking to fly to, they picked Louisville first. So I think it's a significant win for the city and a huge win for the airport and the region as a whole."
Breeze is a new airline start-up created by Jet Blue founder David Neelemen. It was cleared for takeoff by the Department of Transportation in March. He chose Louisville as one of 16 start-up markets.
Mann said there were several reasons why Breeze Airways picked Louisville other than its growing airport, including the city's population, employment, disposable income and economy. The executive director said the city is the right size to allow for the demand for outgoing flights and the demand for inbound flights with the rise in tourism and bourbonism.
Another reason revolves around UPS, which remained increasingly busy through the pandemic while leisure and business travel dropped off.
"We do have UPS here, which helps keep our costs unbelievably low. So it's not just the jobs over there but our cost, what we charge airlines, are really competitive," Mann said.
Based in Salt Lake City, Breeze is planning for growth with an order for 60 new Airbus A220 aircraft to be delivered over the next five years.
And Mann said by adding airlines like Breeze and Spirit to SDF, it can have a bigger impact down the road.
"I think a lot of folks think a small and low-cost carrier, that it's just for leisure travelers," Mann said. "But it's creating capacity and demand. It shows the power of Louisville and the demand that's in Louisville. And then we get to make the case for more flights on your traditional carriers, like Delta and American and United."
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