Routes: Breeze Airways starts, JetBlue to London, Europe opens, Spirit at OAK + United, Frontier - SF Gate

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In the latest air travel news, the new Breeze Airways finally announces its initial route network and starting date; JetBlue sets an August debut for its long-planned service to London; the European Union gives member states the green light to lift restrictions on international travelers; France targets June 9 and Spain June 7 for reopening to Americans who meet health requirements; U.S. airlines add more domestic flights as passenger demand surges; Spirit Airlines plans new routes from Oakland; Frontier pulls out of LAX; Alaska Airlines eyes Shanghai code-share flights and revives some in-flight services.

Last month, Avelo Airlines started flying out of Hollywood Burbank Airport, and now another new low-cost carrier — Breeze Airways — has announced it will take to the skies May 27. Breeze is the latest entrepreneurial venture of David Neeleman, who founded JetBlue and Brazil’s Azul Airlines. Under Breeze’s business plan, it won’t rely on a single hub airport but will initially fly a decentralized network of 39 nonstop routes linking 16 cities, mainly in the eastern half of the country (sorry, West Coast).

Breeze said that 95% of its initial routes currently have no nonstop air service, so fliers traveling between them have to use a connection. A quick look at Breeze’s network map (www.flybreeze.com) shows that Tampa, Florida, Charleston, South Carolina, and New Orleans, Louisiana, have the greatest concentration of routes, at 10 or 11 each. But other routes are totally separate from those three airports, like Pittsburgh-Norfolk, San Antonio-Tulsa, and Hartford-Columbus, Ohio. Breeze’s first flights are slated to operate between Charleston, Tampa and Hartford, with more routes added every week through July 22, and one-way fares will start at $39.

The carrier promises easy bookings via its mobile app and said it will impose no change or cancellation fees, offering reusable flight credits that are good for up to two years. Advance seat assignments will incur a fee of $10 or more, and passengers will pay $20 for each bag, whether it is checked or carried on. The airline will initially rely on a fleet of Embraer regional jets with 108 to 118 seats in a single-class, 2-by-2 configuration, although some will offer extra legroom. But in the fall, it will start to take delivery of new Airbus A220 planes (it has ordered 60) that also feature a premium cabin.

JetBlue announced two years ago that it intended to launch trans-Atlantic service to London, but the launch date got pushed way back because of the pandemic. Now the airline has finally settled on Aug. 11, 2021, for its first-ever flights to Europe, operating from New York JFK to London Heathrow. On Sept. 29, JetBlue will add service from JFK to London Gatwick as well. Its planned flights from Boston to London, however, have been delayed until summer of 2022. Service to both London airports will initially operate once a day with the carrier’s new single-aisle Airbus A321LRs (Long Range), featuring new interiors designed for the trans-Atlantic market. The company has long promised that its London service would give its larger competitors a run for their money by offering significantly lower fares for both premium cabin and coach travelers.

JetBlue’s new A321LRs have 24 redesigned front-cabin Mint suites with lie-flat seats and sliding doors; that includes two Mint Studios, which JetBlue says will offer “the most space in a premium experience from any U.S. airline,” based on personal square footage per seat. The back of the plane has 114 “core” (i.e. economy) seats, and the aircraft features interior enhancements like backlit ceiling panels, mood lighting, “the largest overhead bins on a single-aisle aircraft,” and free Wi-Fi for everyone, JetBlue said. When we checked JetBlue’s website for September JFK-LHR fares, we found basic economy starting at $202 one-way and Mint at $820. The website didn’t show connecting fares from San Francisco. Yet to be seen is how this London service will fit into JetBlue’s new partnership with American Airlines in the northeastern U.S., which provides for lots of code-sharing and schedule coordination. That should be interesting because American already has a big trans-Atlantic partner: British Airways. Together, the two dominate the JFK-LHR market.

Europe continues to move closer to opening up for international travelers. Last week, the Council of the European Union formally approved a plan that will let its member states lift current restrictions on nonssential travel from other nations based on their progress in limiting the spread of COVID-19. “If member states accept proof of vaccination to waive travel restrictions such as testing or quarantine, they should in principle lift restrictions on non-essential travel for third-country travelers who have received the last recommended dose of an EMA-approved vaccine (note: U.S. vaccines are all EMA-approved) at least 14 days before arrival,” the council said. But it added: “Where lifting these restrictions, member states should take into account reciprocity on a case-by-case basis.” That could pressure the U.S. to lift its own current entry ban on nonessential travel from the EU.

But potential problems remain for U.S. travel to Europe as the EU’s individual governments decide exactly which rules to apply — e.g., what form of vaccination proof travelers will have to provide, what kind of local restrictions might still apply to tourist venues and dining, etc. The Washington Post last week issued a good summary of the various issues Americans will have to contend with if they plan to fly to Europe this summer. (And remember, the U.K. is no longer part of the EU, so we’re still waiting to see when travel there might be available for Americans without the current quarantine restrictions.)

Some nations like Greece and Iceland have already reopened to U.S. visitors, and others are planning to do so soon. France has announced a June 9 date for welcoming Americans and other foreign visitors again (“subject to health pass,” French tourism authorities said, without being more specific). Spain is set to reopen to vaccinated international travelers on June 7. And major airlines including Delta, American and Alitalia are now offering quarantine-free travel to Italy on select flights from New York to Milan and Rome for travelers who show a negative COVID PCR test no more than three days before leaving the U.S., and also get rapid antigen tests just before departure and again upon arrival in Italy.

As the huge increase in U.S. COVID vaccinations coincides with the onset of peak summer travel season and a general public exuberance about getting back to normal, domestic airline bookings are surging. On May 16, TSA screened more than 1.8 million travelers, the first time it reached that number since March 2020 when the pandemic was just getting started. Numbers ranged from 1.4 million to 1.7 million almost every day in May so far — still well behind the 2.2 million to 2.6 million during the same month in 2019, but well ahead of May 2020, when daily numbers never topped 253,000.

OAG, the U.K.-based airline data tracker, said last week that U.S. airlines’ domestic capacity is growing to meet the demand — reaching 75% of May 2019 levels during May 2021, and expected to hit 88% of July 2019 capacity during the same month this year. (OAG said international airline capacity for the U.S. was 45% of 2019 levels during May and could reach 69% in July, “assuming every border opens by that date — an unlikely scenario.”) And note that while demand for travel to domestic leisure destinations — mountains, beaches, national parks, etc. — is surging, urban destinations are still feeling the pinch as business travel continues to lag and vacationers show little interest. The American Hotel & Lodging Association said last week that a new survey of 2,200 U.S. adults found that only 29% were likely to travel to a city or urban destination this summer.

In any case, airports are advising travelers to plan for a busier experience in the months ahead than they saw during the pandemic slump. San Francisco International said last week it processed a post-pandemic record 30,000 passengers on May 14, and numbers are expected to reach 35,000 to 38,000 a day this summer. “While such levels are more than 50% below pre-pandemic passenger levels, SFO is nonetheless experiencing the longest sustained period of passenger growth since the pandemic began,” a spokesperson said. Los Angeles International is reporting traffic of 57,000 passengers a day in May, its busiest month since early 2020 (but still down 50% from May 2019).

United Airlines said last week it will add 400 more flights in July, bringing its total operation to 80% of its pre-pandemic domestic schedule. The airline said bookings for summer travel are up more than 200% from 2020 levels (although that’s starting from a pretty small base). Besides adding new routes to places like Orange County; Bozeman, Montana; Raleigh, North Carolina; and Cody, Wyoming, United said, it will make connections easier by adding more “flight banks” at its Chicago O’Hare and Washington Dulles hubs. (A flight bank is a synchronized wave of inbound and outbound flights.) The airline plans to increase O’Hare’s daily flight banks from seven to nine and Dulles’s from two to three.

At Oakland International, Spirit Airlines has announced some new routes starting June 9, including daily flights to Orange County’s John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana and four flights a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday) to Chicago O’Hare. Spirit is also growing at Orange County with new daily flights to Sacramento and Phoenix beginning June 9 and a second daily SNA-Las Vegas roundtrip as of July 7. In other Oakland news, low-cost Allegiant Air plans a May 28 launch for twice-weekly flights (Mondays and Fridays) from OAK to Bozeman, Montana, the gateway to Yellowstone National Park. Allegiant already flies to Missoula and Kalispell, Montana, from OAK.

In southern California, we reported last week that Frontier Airlines is adding new routes and flights from Burbank and Ontario in mid-July. Now it looks like Frontier’s growth in those two airports will replace its service out of Los Angeles International, where the carrier is due to phase out all of its operations this summer, including flights from LAX to Phoenix, Las Vegas, Atlanta and Denver.

Alaska Airlines last week added the 95th nonstop spoke from its Seattle hub when it launched new daily service from SEA to Cincinnati. Alaska also has resumed some in-flight amenities that were suspended because of the pandemic. That includes a full hot meal service for first class passengers on transcontinental and Hawaii flights and different complementary first class food options on other flights. In economy class, alcoholic drinks will again be offered for purchase (free in Premium Class), along with a selection of soft drinks, coffee and tea and a menu of fresh and packaged food items for purchase.

On the international side, Alaska Airlines is looking to offer its customers nonstop service from Seattle to Shanghai. Subject to government approval, Alaska has applied to put its code onto partner American Airlines’ new SEA-PVG flights, which started operating in March. American moved its Dallas/Fort Worth-Shanghai route to Seattle to benefit its new partnership, which now includes full Alaska Airlines membership in American’s Oneworld global alliance. In other international news, United last week introduced new service to West Africa, operating 787 flights three days a week from Washington Dulles to Accra, Ghana.