Portland International Jetport Derek Davis/Staff Photographer
Air travelers in Portland soon will have more destinations and flights to choose from.
Breeze Airways said Tuesday that it will launch year-round service between the Portland International Jetport and Charleston, South Carolina, as well as to and from Tampa, Florida. The budget airline also will have summer flights connecting Portland with Norfolk, Virginia, and Pittsburgh.
The Wednesday and Saturday service to Tampa will begin May 17 and the Monday and Friday service to Charleston will start May 19. Service to and from Norfolk and Pittsburgh also will be twice weekly and begin in early June and run through early September.
Breeze said introductory fares for the Norfolk and Pittsburgh flights will start at $39 one-way. Charleston one-way flights will start at $49 and flying to or from Tampa, $59.
The airline offers three levels of service: “Nice,” “Nicer” and “Nicest,” with roomier seats – and higher prices – for the top two levels. Bags, whether checked or carry-on, are $20 each.
MORE OPTIONS TO COME
Breeze Airways isn’t the only carrier adding flights at the jetport. Frontier Airlines will resume its seasonal service in Portland next month, offering flights to and from Orlando, Florida. In May, the airline will offer flights between Portland and Raleigh-Durham and Philadelphia.
The addition of Breeze and the Frontier seasonal service offer a partial replacement for Elite Airways, which had offered flights between Florida and several northeastern cities including Portland, where Elite is based. But the airline stopped flying last year.
The jetport’s assistant airport director, Zachary Sundquist, said there have been talks with Elite executives about the airline resuming service, but nothing is definitive yet. Airline officials have not returned calls seeking information about their plans.
Sundquist, however, sounded optimistic.
“The latest I’m hearing is more news to come from them in the spring,” although airline officials aren’t hinting at what that news might be, he said.
As for the addition of Breeze, Sundquist called it the culmination of “an ongoing conversation over the last couple of years.” The airline was launched in May 2021 by David Neeleman, who founded JetBlue in 1998. Today, Breeze is headquartered in Salt Lake City and flies to over 30 destinations.
Sundquist said the Breeze service to and from Pittsburgh is a big deal, even though Tampa is a bigger market.
Pittsburgh is a major city with a lot of airline service, he noted, and that’s “huge for the Portland market, particularly inbound during the summer.”
“We are thrilled to welcome Breeze Airways to Portland, Maine,” Paul Bradbury, airport director at the jetport, said in a statement. “Today’s announcement by Breeze adds four new nonstop destinations, and their ‘Seriously Nice’ level of service pairs well with our industry recognized passenger experience and the overall essence of Maine.”
A fun fact: Breeze was originally registered as Moxy Airways, a name that sounds similar to that of the soft drink Moxie, first concocted 147 years ago in Maine. The airline later changed its identity because of a copyright clash with a hotel brand. However, because of the earlier name, Breeze flight numbers start with “MX.”
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