Low-cost airline announces two more flights from RDU, bringing total to 28
Breeze Airways, a low-cost airline that got its start during the COVID-19 pandemic, announced two more nonstop destinations from Raleigh-Durham International Airport on Wednesday.
Breeze will begin flying from RDU to Key West, Florida, and Manchester, New Hampshire, this fall. The Key West flights begin Oct. 3 and will operate Mondays and Fridays, while Manchester begins Nov. 6 on Thursdays and Sundays.
The airline will be the only one flying between the Triangle and Key West. It will have competition to Manchester from rival low-cost carrier Avelo Airlines.
Breeze made its debut at RDU in early 2023, with service to three cities. With Wednesday’s announcement, it now flies nonstop to 28 places from the Triangle, more than any other airline.
Like other low-cost carriers, Breeze doesn’t operate those flights daily. It usually picks two or three days a week, so for all the destinations it offers from RDU, it still accounts for less than 3% of air travelers to and from the Triangle.
But Breeze considers itself a “premium leisure” airline, offering first class and “extra legroom” seats and year-round flights. They’ve helped make Breeze the fastest-growing airline in the country, said Lukas Johnson, the chief commercial officer.
“We consider ourselves a nice low-cost carrier,” Johnson said in an interview. “It’s kind of in a class of its own. Fits really well with the population here, and guests have really taken a liking to it, and that’s why we keep growing here.”
Breeze’s success at RDU means that it has not had to discontinue flights once it introduces them. The carrier has canceled only one route from the Triangle, to Las Vegas, where it had competition from Delta and Southwest.
The start-up airline began flying in the spring of 2021, becoming the fifth carrier started by industry veteran David Neeleman. Starting in the 1980s, Neeleman founded Morris Air, which was bought and absorbed by Southwest, as well as JetBlue, WestJet of Canada and Azul Brazilian Airlines.
Breeze often flies routes that other airlines do not. Of the 28 destinations the airline serves from RDU, 14 are exclusives, including San Diego, Louisville, Columbus, Ohio, and Burlington, Vermont.
Breeze operates out of Terminal 1, which it shares with Southwest, Avelo, Alaska, Spirit and Sun Country.
RDU has aggressively recruited airlines and encouraged them to serve new destinations. An RDU record 19 airlines now fly to 79 places from the Triangle, including 14 international flights. The airport served a record 15.5 million passengers last year.
To try to keep up with the growth, RDU plans $3 billion worth of construction projects over the coming decade, including a new main runway, expansion of both terminals, a larger remote parking lot and new facilities for rental cars and ground transportation.
This story was originally published May 7, 2025 at 9:46 AM.
