Breeze Airways, the new upstart budget carrier that was set to debut later this year, is pushing back its start date to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
At a time when airlines are barely operating at 25 percent capacity compared to this time last year, founder David Neeleman—who also founded JetBlue Airways—decided to wait on the initial launch.
Neeleman is basing Breeze in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Forbes noted that it could be good timing anyway since Breeze is still in the process of acquiring a fleet of Airbus A220 and Embraer 195 narrowbody, single-aisle aircraft. And it still needs to fully hire and train its staff, including flight attendants and pilots.
Neeleman has known nothing but success when it comes to starting airlines. He founded JetBlue, Canada’s WestJet, Brazil’s Azul, and another Utah-based carrier Morris Air (now operated by Southwest).
In announcing Breeze earlier this year, Neeleman said his strategy will be to use airports “that bigger airlines overlook.” There will not be a traditional hub system that major carriers use.
“I would be very surprised if a single [Breeze] route had non-stop service competition. There are literally hundreds and hundreds of city pairs that are crying out for non-stop flights,” Neeleman said.
