Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio news. This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Tim Stenebeck on Bloomberg.
Radio Top of Mind for us. First of all, at quick News, you know Boeing deliveries in the first quarter dipping to the lowest since mid twenty twenty one, highlighting how far the planemaker has to go on its road to recovery from that near catastrophic accident early in January. So no doubt, Tim, major airlines are watching for what comes next from Boeing.
Well, when it comes to what is actually happening in the space, it makes sense to keep a watch on. Our next guest, who's well known in the commercial airline industry, having founded five airlines, including Jet Blue, WestJet and the latest Breeze Airways. With us now is the founder and CEO of Breeze, David Nielman with us from Providence, Rhode Island. David, good to have you back with us. How are you good?
Good? You know, it's been a long day but productive day here.
Hey, this is not your first rodeo, as they say, but your newest airline, Breeze, turned three years old in May. Give us an update on expansion, give us an update on growth here.
You said it was a productive day, So why was it productive?
Well, I think you know, a lot a lot of a lot of talking about you know, our new credit card, a lot of you know, press interviews, and but I think the biggest news that we have for today is that we actually made our first profit. We've made a profit in March, and we expect to be profitable for the year. And you know, this is in a year where you know, some of the ulccs are really struggling, and you know, I'm just really proud of our team. We've we've really carved out a really great niche where
people love flying on breeze. They love the the airplanes, the service, the markets we fly, the NonStop we have about ninety we have almost two hundred routes, and ninety percent of them we have no NonStop competition. But there are routes that people really love to fly. And so that's that's really, you know, the most important thing for us is profitability and continue to grow and continuing to find great new markets and sturing the markets that we
have today. Well, just yeah, Providence, we need to give the example Providence from here it's top of mind. We have twenty destinations we serve from Providence. We have more destinations from Providence any other airline. And you know it's a We're flying Providence to Lax for example, Providence at Denver, you know, Providence to you know, Florida of course, to Raleigh, Durham, to mid Atlantic, all over the place, twenty different places.
And and you know, people in Providence love it. They don't want to shop all the way up to the Boston and you know, deal with traffic and all that kind of stuff when they can fly out to the hometown airport.
So talk to us a little bit about fares holding up in this class. I mean, it feels like there are a lot of budget seats in the market. I mean, talk to us a little bit about fares and pricing and summer demand. How you're starting to see that shape up.
Well, it's good. I mean we had a good first quarter. You know, it was interesting. We did more revenue in March than we did the whole first quarter of last year. Kind of shows you our growth, you know, I guess that's three hundred percent or more. Yeah, April looks good, you know, May is May. It's a bit of a transition month where we move a lot of our our
north south flying to east west. You know, we're starting to fly San Diego for the first time, going from Norfolk, which is a huge navy based to San Diego for example. So you know, May looks pretty good and then June summer looks strong and uh, you know, holding our projections for a profitable years. So you know, it's interesting because we have kind of a base fair that's you know, kind of like a basic economy that everybody else has.
And then the jump ups where you go from nice to nicest, too nice, nicer to nicest where you get into a first class seat, isn't that bad? And people people love it, you know, they see the upgrade. It doesn't it doesn't feel like nicol and diming because we're actually giving you something of value, including free internet, and uh so you know it's it's it's working really well. It's a really good model.
Hey David, I'm interested in the fleet. Uh, Airbus A two twenty and Brayer one nineties and one ninety fives. How are you able to survive with such a small airplane when it seems like everybody else is increasing the size of the planes that they're using to offset those higher pilot salaries.
That's a great question. It's a really great question. So the embraers we use primarily for charters. We do have a little bit of scheduled service with them, and they're going away by the end of this year and it'll be all too twenties the one nineties. In the month of March, we did almost six hundred charters that we flew, you know, for NCAA, March Madness and all of that. So we use those planes primarily for that operation, and
our pilots and flight crews do a great job. Now the two twenty you're right, I mean, pilot salaries have gone up, and fortunately the pilot shortage situation in the US has has really gotten better, much much better, you know, with you know, pilots getting ready to be laid off at some airlines and a lot of airlines not hiring, and a lot of that's because of boying deliveries, but because the two twenties so efficient fuel burn and maintenance costs.
You know, we only have one hundred and thirty seven seats and our trip cost that's our you know, our being able to fly from A to B we believe is about twenty percent lower fifteen to twenty percent lower than a three twenty And a lot of our competitors fly a three twenties, you know, be it Spirit or
Frontier or Allegiant or Jet Blue. So we can fly for twenty percent lower, and that just opens up an exponential amount of routes that we can fly because we have lower trip costs because the plane is new and it's efficient, and you know, has these long ranges, so we can do these long, thin routes as well. So you know, yeah, I mean what Spirits I think is really struggling trying to figure out what do I do
with a two hundred and forty seed airplane. I got a fly where everybody else is and you know the other everybody else is not, you know, being kind of late to them where eighty percent of their routes they have NonStop competition, ninety percent of our routes we have no NonStop competition.
You know, David, you've used airbus planes a lot in your timeline and creation of five different carriers, if you will, And yeah, the Airbus three twenties right, a big part of Jet Blue back then. I'm just curious what you make of what's going on with Boeing in trouble again if you will. And you know it's a duopoly, right, it's either Airbus are bowing at this point. But I'm just curious how you were thinking about Boeing in its future here and why don't you choose more Boeings.
Well, it just size.
Well.
I was interesting because my first airline, More Sarah, had Boyings and I love Boying, and I went up to Boeing and was fully intent on buying seven thirty seven's for Jet Blue. We couldn't come to an agreement, so we went and met with Airbus. Airbus just sold me that they had a better product, a better airplane, better, our customers would love it more, you know fly by wy or just so many other vantage is better fuel burned, and it was just a newer technology. It was a
newer technology airplane. So I picked Airbus at that time. Now, the reason I picked it wasn't because of safety. It was just because it was a better airplane for us, and it was a better airplane for our customers. I find seven thirty sevens on a weekly basis. They just got off a United seven thirty seven last week. I feel one safe. I'm I have total confidence in Boeing. Obviously they're going through a rough patch here, you know, but there's the safety record in the United States for
all commercial carriers is unbelievable. I mean, if you look back, it's hard to find the last major accident by a Boying airplane, you know, in the United States, and it's really difficult. So, you know, my heart goes out to Boying there, you know, there. I know they're going through it. I know that this will make them a better company, and I expect them to come out of it stronger than ever.
Hey, David, we only have about thirty seconds left, but got a question from a viewer who wants to know if you're going to bring back flights between Los Angeles and Westchester anytime soon.
You're squinting.
That's a good question.
You know.
Westchester is a slotted airport, and so we're bidding for some slots actually today, and I hope I haven't heard if we got somebody. If you do, that's certainly on our list.
Okay, some news bidding for some slots at Westchester Airport today, So come back and let us know how that turns out, and certainly I know that many of her viewers who fly out of the New York City area looking for more flights out of Westchester kind of.
Love these like these, these hops that you can use in these between kind of shorter justtinations, if you will, it makes a lot of sense. Founder and CEO of Breeze Airway, so well known in the airline industry, David Nielman, are thanks to you.