At the recent World Aviation Festival in Amsterdam, Simple Flying’s Managing Editor, Tom Boon, interacted with Breeze Airways’ CEO, David Neeleman. As the airline looks forward to expanding its business, Neeleman explained that there have also been challenges along the way, particularly delays in airplane deliveries that led to some changes in the overall fleet program.
Embraer airplanes will stay for some time
In a recent interaction with Simple Flying, Breeze airways’ CEO David Neeleman discussed plans for his fleet and how the Embraer aircraft will stay on for a bit longer, given the current situation with aircraft deliveries.
Photo: Semrah Odobasic | Shutterstock
A lot has been reported about Breeze’s Embraer fleet and how it is scheduled to be phased out of scheduled commercial operations, moving to charters, and then on its way out. The plan is to replace the Embraers with the Airbus A220 aircraft completely. When asked about how that plan is coming along, Neeleman said,
“It’s going well. We’re having challenges with Airbus. Their deliveries are coming late. So they do great to cover for the routes that we have with the A220s. We have three 195s and 10 190s. We’ll probably have a lot of interest in the 195s.
“We’ll probably move them out by the end of the year, the first quarter. And then we’ll have the 10 190s that will go off lease starting at the end of 2026. We’ll probably just keep them, pick them off lease.
“They keep coming back with offers to have them pay them, take them off… they’re so inexpensive, we’ll just keep flying them because it’s nice to have that flexibility, have that extra fleet if we need it.”
Starting with the A220s would have been easier
It’s been over three years since Breeze has been in business. The airline has established a substantial network and also increased its fleet size. The carrier began its journey with Embraer airplanes and eventually received its Airbus A220 in December 2021 and launched it into service a few months later.
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This resulted in Breeze having a mixed fleet type, which has advantages and disadvantages depending on the situation. When asked what he could have done differently in the last few years, Neeleman replied that he probably would have started with the A220s because having two fleets was challenging.
He added that he’s glad now that he has different types of planes, but looking back, it would have made it easier to operate starting with just one aircraft type.
Delivery constraints impacting network expansion
Breeze had a couple of routes in the pipeline, such as the flight between Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY) and Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) and a service resumption between MSY and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).
Photo: Angel DiBilio | Shutterstock
However, aircraft delivery constraints have forced the airline to delay these services until fall next year and even keep the Embraers in scheduled service for much longer than previously anticipated. The initial plan was to have the Embraer E190s fly exclusively for charter services, but given the present situation, one could expect them to fly scheduled flights well into 2025.
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Breeze Airways Pushes Back Start Of 2 Routes Due To “Aircraft Delivery Constraints”
The airline has also pushed back plans to open a new base for its Airbus A220s in the Big Easy.
