Tweed New Haven is gearing up for Breeze service as Breeze offers $29 plans

NEW HAVEN – Tweed New Haven Regional Airport is hard at work preparing for the start of Breeze Airways service on December 10th. This will be the first time in 17 years that Tweed will be served by more than one airline, officials said.

Preparations for Breeze included both organizational coordination and some physical improvements, airport officials said. Tweed is already served by fellow low-cost airline Avelo Airlines.

“Most of it just comes down to stratifying the schedule so that there aren’t three planes and two airlines landing at the same time,” Avports spokesman Andrew King said.

As Tweed prepares to accommodate Breeze — which already serves Connecticut fliers from Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks — Breeze is in the process of making a statement to the southern Connecticut market Tweed serves that it is open for business is.

It plans to offer $29 fares on eight routes to and from New Haven in conjunction with Black Friday, a Breeze spokesman said. The deal also includes five Hartford routes.

“We know Connecticut travelers want a comprehensive product offering that allows them to choose the experience that best suits their needs,” said David Neeleman, founder and CEO of Breeze Airways. “We’re excited to bring more travel options to Tweed and look forward to the launch of the Breeze service on December 10.”

Breeze will offer weekly nonstop flights to various locations in Florida. Fort Myers begins December 10th, followed by Orlando and West Palm Beach on December 11th and Vero Beach beginning December 13th.

Breeze, based in Salt Lake City, Utah, will also offer nonstop service to six additional destinations in February, including Charleston, SC; Jacksonville, Fla.; Norfolk, Va.; Raleigh-Durham, N.C., Richmond, Va., and Sarasota-Bradenton, Fla., the company previously announced.

The $29 plans are available from November 29th to December 1st. Tickets are valid for travel from December 4th to May 13th, 2025, with blackout periods from December 20th to January 1st. February 5, 14 – February 14, March 25 and 10 to April 20, said Breeze spokesman Gareth Edmonson-Jones.

Tweed routes include Fort Myers, Jacksonville, Orlando, Sarasota-Bradenton, West Palm Beach, Raleigh Durham, Norfolk and Richmond. They will be offered from Bradley on flights to and from Daytona Beach, Jacksonville, Savannah, Coastal Carolina/New Bern, N.C. and Wilmington, N.C., he said.

A formal announcement is expected on Monday, he said.

Meanwhile, the two airlines and Tweed officials met on Nov. 10 so the airlines could coordinate, said Jeremy Nielson, airport manager for Tweed operator Avports LLC, which is owned by Goldman Sachs.

“We have a full-scale exercise planned for December 4th … just to see if there is anything else that needs to be tweaked (or if there are any concerns that might arise before opening day),” Nielson told the Tweed New Haven Airport Authority their regular monthly meeting.

In recent weeks, Tweed has also made a number of physical improvements, including doubling the capacity of restrooms in the arrivals area of ​​the Tweed terminal and building a new bridge from which all terminal and apron operations will be managed, Nielson said.

A new baggage claim office was also built, the terminal ramp where airlines park their planes was renovated and 1,700 feet of new fencing was installed at the airport, Nielson said.

The airport also hired a new terminal manager and eight ramp controllers, he said.

Tweed recently opened a new bar and restaurant called The Grazing Goat on the second floor of the terminal, Nielson said.

The last time Tweed had more than one airline offering air service was in 2007, when Pan Am Clipper Connection, operated by Boston-Maine Airways, operated nonstop flights to Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, Hanscom Field and Pease International Airport offered four months for a little more.

This was in addition to the service of the then US Airways Express, which became American Eagle in 2015 following the merger of American Airlines and US Airways.

Breeze will enter service as the battle for Tweed’s future expansion rages on.

Save the Sound and East Haven are appealing the Federal Aviation Administration’s determination that Tweed’s proposed expansion would have “no significant impact.” The project would include extending the runway and building a new terminal on the east side of the airport with access from East Haven.

This month, Save the Sound, along with East Haven, filed a notice of claim in the case.

“The Federal Aviation Administration has failed to meaningfully analyze and mitigate the significant impacts of the proposed expansion, even though the airport is located in a flood plain, in a residential district and in a federally designated environmental justice area,” Save the attorney Jessica Roberts said Sound in a press release.

Save the Sound and East Haven argue that the FAA’s final draft environmental assessment had deficiencies previously pointed out by federal and state agencies and “incorrectly concluded that the airport expansion would not have a significant impact on the environment.” “Roberts wrote in the press release.

“In our letter we argued that the final EA had not taken into account the actual number of passengers this expansion would bring to Tweed,” Roberts wrote. “While public statements and certain parts of the EA stated that it would attract additional airlines and passengers, the EA concluded that passenger numbers would remain constant and flights would decline.”

The order also noted that the EA did not include an analysis of the runway to be built but would require tidal wetland fill, she wrote.

“We also argued that the FAA also failed to meaningfully analyze localized flooding, stormwater pollution, and wetland impacts despite being urged to do so by numerous experts,” Roberts wrote. “The final environmental impact study was vague and inadequate in its discussion of stormwater and wetland impacts.”

Save the Sound and East Haven are asking the court to require the FAA to provide a more comprehensive and detailed environmental impact statement, including necessary remedial action.

“Rising sea levels and increasing storms endanger residents of surrounding neighborhoods and require meaningful analysis of these factors under current law,” she wrote.