Air journey might be ‘wonderful’ if gov’t shuts down: Breeze Airways CEO

00:00 Speaker A

Well, Breeze Airways has joined the ranks of low-cost airways 4 years in the past, and it serves greater than 60 US cities and 30 states. It’s going so as to add worldwide routes beginning in January, however the extra rapid concern is how the airline and its prospects could be affected by a authorities shutdown. Joining me now, David Neeleman, Breeze Airways founder and CV CEO. David, it is nice to see you. You’re an airline veteran, so you’ve got been by a few of these conditions earlier than. How does it sometimes play out? How do you put together for it?

00:27 David Neeleman

Yeah, you understand, it is uh, I I believe it is going to be enterprise as ordinary. Good factor it is a not a very peak journey time of yr. as we type of go away September and into October, issues begin selecting up, however I I believe we’ll be wonderful. Yeah, it is actually a TSA checkpoint concern and um, our checkpoints the place you fly to decrease capability airports, so and normally it lasts a every week or or or now not. So, we’re hoping it passes shortly.

00:54 Speaker A

So let’s speak about um the information that you just guys simply got here out with um that you’ll be starting these worldwide routes right here. Um January tenth, you are going to um go to Cancun. um and you understand, so kind of opening up these Caribbean routes. What what led you to that call and um had been you seeing that prospects wished this sort of service?

01:13 David Neeleman

Absolutely. You know, in our enterprise, we now have peak journey days, we now have peak journey occasions of the yr, peak journey occasions of the month and normally it is a Thursday, Friday, Sunday, Monday or our greatest days. uh particularly with the prolonged work week the place folks take Fridays off or Mondays off. Saturdays usually are slightly bit weaker and we do not fly as a lot on on Saturdays, but it surely’s an ideal day to go worldwide.

01:35 David Neeleman

Excuse me, particularly these locations that we fly to. They have a whole lot of all-inclusive resorts. So someone in Providence, Rhode Island in February can hop on our certainly one of our planes and fly right down to Cancun and and spend every week there after which come again. So it really works nice for our Saturday to Saturday service. So you see all of it is both a Wednesday, Saturday or there’s one which’s Thursday, Sunday, but it surely’s primarily Wednesday, Saturday. So it actually helps the utilization of our fleet with some excessive greenback uh tickets offered on a Saturday.

02:02 Speaker A

Um David, to only to broaden it out, what are you seeing when it comes to demand proper now? You know, we we discuss lots right here about how of us who’re out there for instance are holding up very nicely, however folks on the decrease revenue facet of the spectrum, individuals who could be your prospects should not. Are you seeing that present up in any respect?

02:16 David Neeleman

We’re not. Um, you understand, we’re having an amazing September. Usually September is uh type of synonymous with loss of life within the airline trade. Um, our October fall bookings are nice, um on by the fourth quarter and into the primary. So, you understand, we’re very hopeful. And you understand, we now have an providing that is a lot totally different than all people else. 85% of our routes haven’t any continuous competitors. So, it is not like we’re combating for a similar folks. and we we stimulate possibly eight occasions greater than we nonetheless. We nonetheless hardly something. So, it is extra simply stimulating site visitors, getting folks to go extra usually and for a very good truthful and the place you may get someplace in an hour and a half as an alternative of 4 hours by connecting by a hub.

02:51 Speaker A

And David, simply shortly right here, you understand, how how are you guys becoming into this setting now the place on the low price facet, you’ve got seen a whole lot of consolidation and it is and it has been a troublesome enterprise.

03:00 David Neeleman

Yeah, it is actually powerful and you understand, it is fascinating as a result of um the the low price guys thought if they only received greater and greater and greater airplanes, they might have decrease and decrease prices per seat after which the the opposite guys mentioned, we’ll get greater and greater and greater, we’ll take these incremental seats and we’ll use these seats to go towards the ULCCs. And as a result of the ULCCs had been had had been in greater and greater markets with their greater and greater airplanes, that put them on a collision course. So it it made it actually powerful.

03:26 David Neeleman

You know, conversely, we now have a smaller airplane, 137 seats, quickly to have first 16 firstclass seats. We have 12 immediately, 45 further leg room seats. and so we are able to fly in a bunch of markets that do not make sense for the ULCCs. So, we’re type of out of that fray, however uh yeah, it is uh it is it is powerful to look at actually.

03:45 Speaker A

David, thanks a lot for becoming a member of us. We admire it.