Long-haul, low-cost airlines are a notoriously hard business model to make profitable. Longer flights tend to have lower load factors, more competition, and are more expensive to operate, three things that repel low-cost service. David Neeleman, however, a long-time veteran of the aviation industry, seems to have mastered the business with multiple existing and profitable lccs that offer long-haul flights such as Azul, JetBlue, and WestJet. Now, he wants to bring this model to life in his newest project: Breeze Airways.
In a recent statement, Neeleman said MXY is currently in the process of being approved for international flights, a certification which the airline would use to fly Transatlantic. Additionally, they plan to fly to Hawaii, a domestic destination that is simply too far for Breeze’s current fleet to reach with their current operating bases. Obviously, to realize these goals the airline will have to buy new aircraft and perhaps reimagine their route network entirely. But can it be done?
In order to make long haul work, Breeze is first going to need new aircraft. While in theory the A220 could make transatlantic trip, I don’t think it would be a good idea to use them. At least for me, they’ll need to make the A220 a whole lot more comfortable before I fly with them, which I don’t think is worth it. I would say a better option would be to use the A321neo, more specifically the -XLR variant. This aircraft has the long range needed to fly across the ocean with a low enough passenger capacity to make load factors reasonable (more on that later). Here’s an imagination of what a Breeze A321neo might look like:
Next, Breeze will have to pick the right routes. Part of the reason why lccs like Norwegian and AirAsia X fail to be profitable is because they try to wrestle demand from other, regular service airlines on popular routes. This inevitably leads to lower load factors and general unprofitability. Rather than stealing demand, Breeze should try to create demand in new markets by offering routes that have never been served before. I’ll bet you never thought to fly Providence to Lisbon—but what if you could? What if it was only $200 round-trip? I know I at the very least would be booking that flight faster than you could say “nicest class.”
On that topic, their transatlantic planes would have to be fitted differently from their normal planes. In order to combat load factors and generate more revenue, it may be in Breeze’s best interest to put more “Nicer” and “Nicest” class offerings on their A321neos than on their smaller domestic planes. Maybe they would want to include lie-flat seats in a new class, too. Not only would this be more comfortable for a long transatlantic flight, it would also increase revenue by bringing more money per customer. An all-economy transatlantic flight probably wouldn’t work.
Breeze Airways, unlike other airlines, could not have just one transatlantic hub. Other long-haul low-cost carriers have shown us that having a single hub (like AirAsia X) is much less lucrative than having several hubs (like TUI). I imagine they would mainly operate flights from their northeastern hotspots like Providence and New Haven. Charleston may see some European action too, but my guess is that Breeze would mainly use this Southeastern hub for flights to the Caribbean and South America.
Lastly, Breeze needs to advertise. Advertise like nobody has advertised before. I’m talking billboards, TV ads, YouTube ads, TikToks, the whole nine yards. This whole business model swings on creating demand where it didn’t exist before, which means people need to hear about it and know about it to make it happen. As good of a deal as it is, if nobody knows Breeze flies transatlantic they aren’t going to think to do it, and that ruins the entire business.
I sincerely hope Breeze can begin to fly transatlantic flights—even though it may be mildly uncomfortable it would make access to America from Europe much, much cheaper, which is something I support entirely. But what you think? Can Breeze can make this new endeavor work? Should they even try? Let me know your takes :)
Image source:
News source:
https://airlinegeeks.com/2024/12/20/hawaii-trans-atlantic-flying-in-breeze-s-plan-ceo-says/
