Breeze Airways CEO Talks Possible Growth at CAK, History with JetBlue, Azul and the Advantages of ADD

GREEN, Ohio – With 17 new aircraft scheduled for delivery next year, Breeze Airways has big plans for 2022, said founder and CEO David Neeleman.

And if Northeast Ohio wants to be part of those plans, Neeleman made this request: “Come fly us.”

He was speaking Wednesday to members of the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce, but his request was for the community in general.

Earlier this year, the Akron-Canton Regional Airport was one of 16 airports to launch service from brand-new Breeze, which is the sixth airline founded by Neeleman. (“I think this is my sixth, is that right?” he asked the audience during the speech. Among the other five: JetBlue Airways; Azul, in Brazil; and WestJet in Canada.)

Breeze currently flies to three destinations from Akron- Canton – New Orleans, Tampa and Charleston, S.C. – with more on tap, potentially, next year, when Breeze will more than double its fleet. Currently, the carrier is flying 13 Embraer aircraft, with 17 new Airbus A220 planes due next year.

The new planes will be able to fly farther, to the West Coast, Mexico and the Caribbean. “You only get that airplane, with these new exciting routes, if you come fly with us,” he told the group, gathered at the MAPS Air Museum in Green.

After his talk, he said that Akron- Canton was performing “about midpack” compared to other Breeze cities, which include Columbus, Pittsburgh, Louisville, Richmond, Oklahoma City and San Antonio. “It takes time. It’s just getting the word out.”

Neeleman was introduced by Terry Slaybaugh, vice president of sites and infrastructure for JobsOhio, which helped land Breeze in both Akron- Canton and Columbus, using a new incentive program designed to attract additional air service to the state. Breeze was the first airline to take advantage of the new program, which guarantees a minimum amount of revenue during the carrier’s first year of operation.

“When I heard David Neeleman was starting another airline, I knew we had to try to get them in Ohio,” said Slaybaugh, who was the airport director in Rochester, New York, when JetBlue started flying there in 2000. “I knew his product would be a good product. He has a vision. More important, he understands the culture.”

Neeleman said he intends for the carrier to be successful without the incentive. “I want us to fill our planes on our own,” he said. “I want the revenue to sustain itself.”

Toward that end, he gave everyone in attendance 10,000 Breeze points, enough for a round-trip flight. “All I ask is that you come back and tell 10 people,” he said.

Neeleman described Breeze as a technology company “that just happens to fly airplanes,” with an easy-to-use website and phone app. He defended the company’s lack of a customer-service phone number.

“At Breeze, you can’t talk to us unless we call you,” he said. The company has had 200,000 customer interactions in its first six months, “and we’ve had to call 70 people.”

Additional proof that the model is working, he said: “29% of the people who have flown us have booked us again.”

Neeleman said he was most proud of his work in Brazil, where he founded Azul Airlines in 2008. The carrier is now the country’s largest. “I always had this yearning to do something for Brazil,” said Neeleman, who was born in the country.

As an adult, Neeleman said he was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, which he credits, in part, for his success.

“I’m just a high school graduate. I never graduated from college,” he said. “I do have seven honorary doctorate degrees, but I can’t tell you one single book I read in high school.”

After he sold his first airline, Morris Air, his mother sent him the book, “Driven to Distraction.” He said he didn’t actually read it – “I thumbed through it” – and learned that one key characteristic of the disorder is an unusual ability to hyperfocus.

“What I’ve found with attention deficit disorder is you can really accomplish great things,” he said.

Read more:

Allegiant, leaving Cleveland Hopkins in January, will fly from Akron-Canton Airport in March

Alaska Airlines announces nonstop service between Cleveland and Seattle, starting in June

First flight on Breeze Airways from Akron- Canton: cheap fares, comfortable seats, plus snacks

What to expect from new carrier Breeze Airways, launching today from Akron-Canton Airport

New carrier Breeze Airways to start flying from Akron-Canton Airport in June

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