Ex-JetBlue CEO announces plans of launching a new airline directed at domestic traveling between mid-sized cities

It’s been almost 20 years to the first-ever flight of JetBlue Airways. After almost two decades of success in the airline industry, the carrier’s founder announced his plans of introducing a new airline targeted at small to medium-sized cities. The founder also highlighted that an application to operate the new Breeze Airways has already been submitted to the Department of Transportation.

David Neeleman is confident that approval for the new Breeze Airways will arrive in the upcoming months. By the end of 2020, he added, the airline can be expected to be operational for commercial flights. Neeleman’s new carrier is likely to be leisure focused and will only provide domestic service (point-to-point) within the United States. Breeze Airways will be subleasing used planes from Brazil’s Azul for operations. Azul is another carrier that was founded by David Neeleman.

Domestic Market Is Currently Dominated By Southwest, American, United, & Delta Airlines

In its statement on Friday, Neeleman highlighted that the traditional air transportation network is increasingly abandoning the small to mid-sized cities. With Breeze Airways, he intends to launch the nicest airline across the globe that caters to the requirements of domestic travelers. The domestic market is currently dominated (75% market grasp) by four major carriers namely Southwest, American, United, and Delta. With plans of competing against the big four, Breeze Airways, as per its founder, will fly the travelers to cities where these market dominators aren’t flying currently.

While Neeleman hinted at including 500 cities to the portfolio, he hasn’t yet confirmed the network for the all-new Breeze Airways. The founder also expressed confidence in the point-to-point service that, according to him, is a preferable model for carriers like Allegiant that are focused on affordable traveling. Neeleman has also brought Lukas Johnson as the chief commercial officer at Breeze Airways. Johnson has decade-long experience at Allegiant that, as per Neeleman, makes him an impeccable candidate for the position ascribed to his in-depth knowledge of the market.

Breeze Airways To Opt For Airbus A220-300s For International Flights

Neeleman also commented on Friday that with the use of a smaller plane that further reduces the cost of the trip, opportunities for Breeze Airways could be limitless. While the operations are expected to begin with Embraer 195 planes (28 in total) for domestic traveling, Breeze Airways may also opt for Airbus A220-300s for international flights. The carrier will start to receive Embraer planes in April 2020 with Airbus jetliners addition not expected before April 2021. Neeleman has ordered 60 of these planes from Airblue.

David Neeleman was ousted from Jetblue in 2007 after a complication regarding customer service meltdown.