Vicki Matteson, vice president of the Indian River County Chamber of Commerce, John Cotugno, mayor of Vero Beach and Brian McCormick, director of airport properties, facilities and contract services for Breeze Airways, spray the second Breeze Airways flight to Vero Beach Regional Airport with champagne during a inaugural celebration on Feb. 3.KAILA JONES/TCPALM/Reuters
A U.S. discount airline is pitching itself to Quebeckers as a cheap way to fly south, but is counting on snowbirds driving across the border to do so.
Breeze Airways, a 33-plane airline launched two years ago by David Neeleman, co-founder of WestJet and founder of JetBlue Airways, says it will fly to Orlando from Plattsburgh, N.Y., three times a week beginning at the end of November for $80 one way.
“We’re looking to attract a lot of Quebeckers to come across the border, come to Plattsburgh and fly to Orlando,” Mr. Neeleman, Breeze Airways’s chief executive officer, said in a webcast news conference on Tuesday.
Mr. Neeleman, an American entrepreneur, co-founded WestJet in 1994 along with Clive Beddoe and others. WestJet began flying in 1996 as a low-cost airline based on the model set by Southwest Airlines and Morris Air and has become Canada’s second-largest full-service carrier. Mr. Neeleman also co-founded Morris Air, JetBlue Airways and Azul Brazilian Airlines.
Breeze flies mainly to secondary airports, with less congestion and cheaper costs, to offer low fares but charges about US$80 more for carry-on and checked luggage, and extra legroom.
Mr. Neeleman said every airline he has led that has flown near the border has attracted customers from Canada.
“Be it in Bellingham [Wash.] or be it in Buffalo or any places where we flew along the border … it always attracted Canadians,” he said. “The Canadian dollar isn’t equal to the U.S. dollar but there are always costs added on in Canada that make crossing the border and buying things more attractive.”
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Breeze’s new service is timed to capture the busy holiday travel traffic, and coincides with new winter routes announced by Canadian airlines. It also follows a summer in which congestion and staff shortages have slowed passenger flows at many major airports in Canada and the United States. The roads feeding Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport have been gridlocked many weekends, as passenger traffic has returned to prepandemic volumes.
Mr. Neeleman said he favours smaller airports because of their lower costs and ease of use by customers.
“You have to walk long distances [at large airports], it’s a big hassle. Some people would rather just drive an hour and be able to park and get right on the airplane,” Mr. Neeleman said. “I’m sure getting over the border isn’t a piece of cake either, so there are trade-offs.”
He said Breeze is not licensed to fly internationally but has applied to do so. He said he would consider flying into Canada, although he suggested that was unlikely given the higher costs.
From Plattsburgh, Breeze will fly the Airbus A220, formerly known as the Bombardier C-Series.
Former Air Canada AC-T CEO Robert Milton is a director and investor in Breeze Aviation Group, the parent company.
Plattsburgh International Airport, just over 100 kilometres south of Montreal on the shore of Lake Champlain in upstate New York, bills itself as “Montreal’s New York airport,” and has a Canadian traveller information button on its website.
Canadians account for 60 per cent to 70 per cent of the travellers at Plattsburgh airport, which had between 250,000 and 300,000 originating and terminating passengers before the pandemic, said Chris Kreig, director of the airport. “We appreciate that Canadian travellers use the airport for their travelling needs,” Mr. Kreig said in an e-mail.
Air Canada and WestJet Airlines finished 10th and eighth, respectively, on Cirium’s August on-time performance ranking, released on Tuesday.
WestJet, meanwhile, has reduced its Montreal schedule for November by 74 per cent or 14,400 departing seats, compared with November, 2022, according to Cirium.
Montreal-Trudeau airport, like most of Canada’s hubs, is a user-pay entity and charges $35 per passenger for the airport improvement fee. U.S. passenger fees charged by airports are capped at US$4.50.
Air Canada offers one-way non-stop flights to Orlando from Montreal-Trudeau in November for $200 and up. The basic fare includes carry-on but not checked luggage.
Eric Atkins