Breeze Airways announces flights between RDU and new destinations in Florida
Breeze Airways will begin nonstop flights between the Triangle and two places in Florida that aren’t currently served by other airlines.
Breeze announced Wednesday that it will fly from Raleigh-Durham International Airport to Sarasota-Bradenton starting in November and to Daytona Beach starting in February. The low-cost carrier will operate both flights two days a week.
Those flights mean Triangle residents can fly nonstop from RDU to nine places in Florida, more than any other state.
Breeze, a start-up airline that began flying in 2021, has emerged as one of the fastest-growing carriers at RDU. It made its debut in the winter of 2023, with flights to three places. Before Wednesday’s announcement, the airline offered nonstop flights to 18 destinations from the Triangle.
“Raleigh-Durham has been an incredible market for us, and we continue to see more opportunities for growth,” the airline’s founder and CEO, David Neeleman, said in a written statement.
Neeleman says the airline flies routes that it considers under-served by other carriers, which means it often doesn’t have competition. From RDU, it is currently the only airline flying nonstop to San Diego; Providence, Rhode Island; Burlington, Vermont; Jacksonville and West Palm Beach in Florida; Islip and White Plains in New York; and Columbus and Akron in Ohio.
Low-cost carriers such as Breeze cater to leisure travelers and tend to add flights to northern destinations in the summer and warmer ones in the winter, resulting in ever-changing schedules. Avelo Airlines flew between RDU and Sarasota for about a year, before discontinuing the service in January.
Legacy carriers such as Delta, American, Southwest and United serve the bulk of passengers at RDU. But low-cost airlines and international carriers such as Aeromexico, Copa, Lufthansa and Icelandair have helped broaden the options for Triangle travelers. People can now fly nonstop to about 70 places from the Triangle, including a record 10 international destinations.
This story was originally published August 7, 2024 at 12:45 PM.
