2nd Airline ​“Breezes” Into Tweed

(Updated) A second budget airline is coming to Tweed — with 11 new destinations on tap, including New Orleans, Jacksonville, and Raleigh-Durham.

City officials and Morris Cove airport boosters made that announcement Tuesday morning during a press conference held at the booming regional airport on the New Haven-East Haven divide.

According to Tuesday’s press conference and a separate email press release sent out by the airport, Breeze Airways will start flying out of Tweed in December.

To quote directly from the press release, Breeze’s first 11 Tweed-bound destinations will include:

• Fort Myers, FL (Mon, Tues, Wed, Fri, and Sat, starting December 10, from $69* one way)

• Orlando, FL (Tues, Wed, Thurs, Sat, and Sun, starting December 11, Daily starting February 5, 2025, from $59* one way)

• West Palm Beach, FL (Tues, Wed, Thurs, Sat, and Sun, starting December 11, from $69* one way)

• Vero Beach, FL (Mondays and Fridays, starting December 13, from $69* one way)

• Charleston, SC (Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays, starting February 6, 2025, from $49* one way)

• Jacksonville, FL (Thursdays and Sundays, starting February 6, 2025, from $59* one way)

• Norfolk, VA (Thursdays and Sundays, starting February 6, 2025, from $49* one way)

• Richmond, VA (Thursdays and Sundays, starting February 6, 2025, from $49* one way)

• Raleigh-Durham, NC (Mondays and Fridays, starting February 7, 2025, from $49* one way)

• Sarasota/Bradenton, FL (Mondays and Fridays, starting February 7, 2025, from $69* one way)

• New Orleans, LA (Thursdays and Sundays, one stop/no change of plane BreezeThru service starting February 6, 2025)

The announcement comes after a separate budget airline, Avelo, made New Haven its East Coast home base in November 2021. Avelo currently flies or will soon be flying to 27 different cities from New Haven, including New Orleans — a destination that Avelo added to its Tweed list on Tuesday.

With the Breeze routes added to those offered by Avelo Airlines, the airport expects to serve more than 1.2 million passengers a year and offer direct service to 30 destinations. In 2022, Tweed New Haven Airport (HVN) became the fastest growing airport in the United States.

Meanwhile, some Morris Cove, East Haven, and Branford neighbors have consistently raised concerns about more airplane traffic out of Tweed — and the resulting loud noises, air pollution, and vehicle traffic — hurting their quality of life. 

Tuesday’s announcement also comes after the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) recently granted a key approval for Tweed’s $165 million airport runway and terminal expansion plan, to be undertaken by the airport’s management company, Avports.

“It’s a brand-new aircraft, so it’s more fuel-efficient, with a significantly lower noise profile than the 737,” Breeze Airways Chief Commercial Officer Lukas Johnson said on Tuesday of the Breeze A220 at the press conference outside Tweed-New Haven under sunny skies. ​“We fly to a number of smaller airports and the communities much prefer it to the regional jets or the big jets.”

He added that Breeze, which was founded in 2019 and has trademarked itself as ​“Seriously Nice,” scored a top five ​“Best US Airline” ranking in Travel + Leisure’s World’s Best Awards for two consecutive years. The airline also currently flies out of Hartford’s Bradley Airport, where Avelo recently announced it too will be setting up shop.

“Breeze’s arrival at New Haven Airport is just one more indication that New Haven is just exploding right now in terms of growth,” said New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker. He cited the potential of Breeze to provide more jobs and more low-cost air service, as well as increased options for travel destinations.

Amid the fanfare, there were questions on plans to mitigate the impact of another airline on neighboring communities.

“We’ll be adjusting parking and adding some off-site parking,” said Avports spokesman Andrew King, emphasizing that the A220 is a quieter aircraft. Elicker added that new flights will not be scheduled to take off or land before 7 a.m. or after 10 p.m.

On how a smaller airport would accommodate an influx of new customers, King said ​“we have great ops guys who do a really good job of fitting people in and they’re going to a great job in December when it gets full.” Michael Jones, CEO of The New HVN LLC, a subsidiary of Avports, encouraged customers expecting shorter lines and less time for check-in and boarding to ​“build time into your schedules and utilize the tools we offer to manage your journey.”

As for new jobs based at Tweed afforded by the addition of Breeze, King promised numbers in November.

King said the runway will not be extended for the new flights. ​“We are in the design and permitting phase at the state and local level so we expect to have more news around that this fall,” he said.

Elicker said the addition of Breeze brought home the urgency of constructing a new terminal. ​“It will have a lot of new benefits for everyone, including additional parking and an elevated terminal, so we won’t see the kind of flooding that not only impacts the operations at the airport but also the neighborhood with backups of traffic,” he said. ​“And so we are working through that process to make sure it’s built.”

Thomas Breen contributed to this report.