Summary
- Breeze Airways will begin three weekly flights from Orlando International to Plattsburgh
- It is going to compete not directly with Allegiant from Sanford
- Spirit operated from Orlando International until late 2017, but it surely lasted lower than a 12 months
Breeze Airways has added Plattsburgh, Latest York, to its network, targeting Canadian sun-seeking snowbirds. While Plattsburgh has a small MSA population of ~85,000 people, town is positioned near the Canadian border and is about 65 miles (105 km) from Montreal. Canadians have an extended history of crossing the border to avail of lower fares, helped by lower operating costs and taxes within the US. That is Breeze’s first attempt at this market. It comes shortly after the carrier inaugurated Tampa to Raleigh Durham.
Breezing from Orlando to Plattsburgh
Starting on November twenty eighth, the 1,199-mile (1,930 km) route from Orlando International will run on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. A dummy booking on its website shows that it’ll use the 137-seat Airbus A220-300. The route is scheduled as follows, with all times local:
- Orlando to Plattsburgh: MX268, 08:00-11:15 (3h 15m block time)
- Plattsburgh to Orlando: MX269, 12:15-15:40 (3h 25m)
Image: GCMap.
While it plans a hefty 60-minute turn in Plattsburgh, it’s 120 minutes on the twenty eighth, suggesting plenty of promotional activity. If that is true, it’s great, but this approach have to be widely applied. A typical grievance amongst Breeze watchers (not in regards to the weather) is a scarcity of promotion and awareness, along with what’s perceived as frequent route churn.
First served in 2016
Cirium shows that Orlando to Plattsburgh had non-stop flights by Spirit between November 2016 and September 2017, lasting lower than a 12 months. The frequency varied from a hefty day by day in winter to 3 weekly in summer.
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Easy Flying.
US DOT T-100 data indicates that it carried 50,082 roundtrip passengers with a mean seat load factor of just 70.5%. It had an excessive amount of capability in winter, reflected in SLFs starting from 50.0% to 79.1% between December and March. It didn’t help that it was still latest.
Far fewer seats on the market in the summertime meant SLFs were higher, between 84.5-88.9% from May to August, but I don’t know the way fares modified. Not that it mattered: it ended quickly. Regardless, Breeze’s three weekly winter operation (with lower-capacity aircraft) looks very sensible and, generally speaking, competitive with its indirect competition.
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Allegiant operates from Sanford
Allegiant has long operated between Orlando and Plattsburgh. Flights launched in February 2008 and proceed to this present day. Within the week Breeze begins in November, Allegiant will operate twice-weekly, once with the A319 (shown below) and the opposite with the A320. In 4 winter weeks, specific peak times, flights rise to between six and eight weekly.
Photo: Ryan Fletcher I Shutterstock.
Interestingly, when Spirit operated in 2016/2017, T-100 data shows that Allegiant’s traffic only fell by 4%, meaning that the overwhelming majority of Spirit’s passengers (50,000+) were latest to Plattsburgh. It grew the Orlando market by about 50%.
Breeze lost $175 million…
The airline lost ~$175 million between January 2022 and March 2023 (the beginning of Q1 2022 to the tip of Q1 2023). Its most important loss so far was in Q1 2023 ($48 million). Despite revenue rising significantly, mainly from greater activity and lower fares, each $1 in revenue took $1.71 in expenses to realize – not good. It lost 71 US cents on the operating level for each $1 in revenue.
US DOT Form 41 figures for Q1 2023 – probably the most recent quarter to which I even have access – show that it had a 75% load factor that month despite a mean fare (excluding taxes) of $44, down from $58 within the previous quarter. It’s unclear what it generated in ancillary sales to complement this.
Photo: via Breeze Airways.
Despite a ten% shorter average sector length than Spirit, Breeze’s Q1 yield was 29% lower. After all, this data is now outdated, and the carrier stays relatively latest. It is going to be exciting to see how subsequent quarters perform.
What do you make of all of it? Tell us within the comments.