Breeze Airways plans many more jobs, flight growth at CT’s largest airport

WINDSOR LOCKS — Breeze Airways, which has become known for its flurry of airfare sales on nonstop flights, expects its workforce at Bradley International Airport to increase by as much as 50% in the next year, with Connecticut’s largest airport being the ultra-low cost air carrier’s second fastest-growing operations base in the country, according to its president.

“This has been one of the most successful cities that we’ve had in our network,” Breeze President Tom Doxey said, in an interview with The Courant at Bradley.

Bradley follows only Providence’s T.F. Green International Airport in its growth trajectory among Breeze’s seven operations bases around the country, Doxey said.

Breeze inaugurated service from Bradley in 2021 coinciding with the launch of the first flights of the start-up airline.

A year later, Breeze designated Bradley as a base of operation and pledged to add more than 200 jobs.

So far, Breeze has created 100 pilot, flight attendant and mechanic jobs at Bradley, plus another 45 contract workers for ground aviation services such as ticketing, cabin cleaning and cargo handling. Doxey said he expects the workforce to grow by as many 75 jobs in the next year.

The airline’s expansion comes with a $1.3 million economic development incentive from the state. The incentive would be paid to Breeze if it creates and retains 212 full-time jobs.

Breeze also has five aircraft parked at Bradley overnight, with that expected to increase by one or two in the next year. The airline now books 14 year-round, non-stop destinations from Bradley.

The airline’s expansion at Bradley has been fueled, Doxey said, by the passenger convenience of not having to travel to larger airport in Boston or New York. The airline’s fleet of new A220 aircraft also is a factor and the trend in the industry of larger airlines pulling back a bit from small- and mid-size airports.

“It’s created a huge opportunity for us to come in and to be able to serve the local communities,” Doxey said. “But unlike them — they are flying connecting and hub — we’re flying nonstop to the places people want to go. All that put together, that’s what resonates with people and that’s why its been so successful here.”

Doxey said it’s a long drive to Boston or New York, especially if there is traffic.

“You can save a lot of time,” Doxey said. “You can be at your destination before you’d be at Logan, or Newark or JFK.”

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Doxey, an executive with 17 years in the industry with such airlines as American, Allegiant and U.S. Airways, said Breeze has logged more than 8,000 arrivals and departures at Bradley in two years. Those flights translate to about 770,000 passengers.

Breeze is focused on the domestic leisure travel business with a strategy of providing nonstop service to and from mid-size airports such as Bradley with low base fares and an a la carte menu of fees depending on the services that are desired.

Breeze also is looking at making the move to international travel in the future, perhaps starting with the Caribbean and Mexico.

But the airline also isn’t immune to the industry-wide pressures of high jet fuel prices and a shift this year from domestic to international travel. As a relatively new airline, Breeze also has yet to turn a profit, something that was not unexpected.

But Doxey said Breeze is nimble and can quickly adjust flight offerings based on demand, seasonal or otherwise.

Breeze — and its founder and CEO David Neeleman — raised $300 million in capital, partly to offset those first-year losses.

The airline has carved out a higher-profile with its limited-time airfare sales, part of a strategy to build name recognition.

“If you’re new to a city and having that sale out there — we saw demand on our website just go off the charts with these sales,” Doxey said. “And interestingly, not only do we sell for the inventory that is on sale, but traffic to website also drives sales for other things, even for peak times.”

A traveler might take advantage, for instance, of the sale but also buy for, say, Thanksgiving, which wouldn’t be part of fare sale, Doxey said.

Doxey maintained that when sales are launched there are a “significant” number of seats designated for the sale, though he declined to say what the typical percentage is, citing competitive reasons.

“It’s not click and there’s one flight on one day,” Doxey said.

Kenneth R. Gosselin can be reached at kgosselin@courant.com.