Low-cost airline expanding at RDU even before its first flights take off this winter

Less than a month after announcing its debut at Raleigh-Durham International Airport, low-cost carrier Breeze Airways has added two more destinations to its schedule.

Breeze said Wednesday that it will begin flying nonstop between RDU and Columbus, Ohio, and Jacksonville, Florida, on May 18.

Breeze previously announced that it would fly nonstop between RDU and Hartford, New Orleans and Providence starting in February. The carrier becomes the 14th doing business from RDU.

The flights will not be daily. The airline said it will fly tColumbus on Sunday and Thursday and Jacksonville on Sunday, Monday, Thursday and Friday.

Breeze has grown rapidly since it began flying to 16 destinations, mostly along the East Coast, in the spring of 2021. The airline now serves 35 destinations, including four in California and six in Florida.

The airline looks for routes that others don’t fly. At RDU, Breeze is the only carrier currently selling tickets on flights to Columbus, Hartford, Jacksonville and Providence, and one of only two, along with Southwest, that plan to fly nonstop to New Orleans, both starting this winter.

Another start-up carrier, Avelo, announced last month that it will expand at RDU and establish a base that will create about 50 jobs. Avelo will begin flying nonstop to six Florida cities — Orlando, Tampa, Ft. Myers, Ft. Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Sarasota — in February, in addition to current service to New Haven.

In contrast, Breeze has chosen a wider variety of markets in the Northeast, South and now, with Columbus, in the Midwest. Michael Landguth, RDU’s president and CEO, hailed Wednesday’s announcement.

“We’re excited about adding direct flights to two new destinations we expect will be popular as business routes and with people visiting family and friends,” Landguth said in a written statement.

Breeze will operate out of Terminal 2, Landguth said, while Avelo will move to Terminal 1 in February, joining Southwest and Spirit.

At 14, RDU has an unusual number of airlines vying for customers for an airport its size. But several of those carriers, including Alaska, Bahamasair, Icelandair and Sun Country, serve only one destination. The two busiest airlines, Delta and American, handle nearly 60% of passengers, with Southwest and United serving another 25%.

Avelo, Bahamasair, Breeze and Icelandair all made their debuts at RDU this year. At the same time, low-cost carrier Allegiant quietly stopped flying from the Triangle this fall after seven years at RDU.