Breeze Airways Exits Mobile, Alabama Entirely
US carrier Breeze Airways will cease flying to Mobile, Alabama's downtown airport at the end of this month. The airline currently offers the only nonstop flight from Mobile International Airport (BFM), the newest airport on the Gulf Coast, with its service to Orlando, Florida.
Breeze backs out
Breeze Airways began service to Mobile International in April, taking over the route from Avelo Airlines. Both carriers have built a successful business connecting underserved routes, often via secondary regional airports. The choice to fly to Mobile's downtown airport set the two carriers apart from legacy airlines, which currently fly to the more established Mobile Regional Airport (MOB), approximately 11 miles due west of the city's downtown area.
Get the latest aviation news straight to your inbox: Sign up for our newsletters today.
Breeze first announced flights from Mobile to Orlando International Airport (MCO) in Florida (also with a one-stop/no-plane-change BreezeThru service to Providence, Rhode Island) last January. The flight began on April 10th, 2024, marking Breeze's 49th city in the United States. The link is currently served on Fridays and Mondays, but tickets are no longer available for sale on the Breeze Airways website for dates after January 31st, 2025.
Related Breeze Takes Delivery Of The 50th Airbus A220 Built In The United States
All of Breeze Airways' fleet members were built in Mobile.
Posts 6
Mobile is Breeze's second city served in Alabama. The airline began service from Huntsville in 2021 and now offers service to Las Vegas, Orlando, and Tampa. The choice to service Mobile was significant as the airport is also home to Airbus' US Manufacturing Facility, where the Airbus A220-300 planes Breeze uses to serve the route are assembled. When reached for comment by Simple Flying, a spokesperson for Breeze Airways confirmed the airline hopes to return to the market:
Effective January 31, 2025, Breeze will suspend service from Mobile International Airport (BFM). We see a lot of promise in Mobile and the surrounding area, so while there is currently no estimated timeline for resuming service at BFM, we hope to return as we continue to grow.
"We are working with our Guests who have been impacted by this change to issue full refunds or serve them from one of our nearby airports in the meantime."
Photo: Airbus
Breeze began the route after Avelo Airlines exited the market early last year. Avelo began a twice-weekly route between Mobile and Orlando on May 31st, 2023, using a Boeing 737-800 to operate the link on Thursdays and Sundays through February 14th, 2024.
Related Wow: Breeze Airways Has Added 29 Airports To Its Route Map This Year
How many of them can you guess?
Posts Not alone for long
The withdrawal of the airport's sole commercial carrier is not expected to last long. The Mobile Airport Authority, which runs both commercial airports in the city, alongside the Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley and St. Elmo Airport, has confirmed it plans to transfer all commercial service from Mobile Regional Airport (MOB) to the more convenient Mobile International (BFM) by the end of the first quarter of 2026.
Related Mobile's Commercial Traffic To Move To Airbus Manufacturing Site Posts
Commonly referred to as Mobile Downtown Airport, BFM is four miles south of the City's downtown and is located on the site of the former Brookley Air Force Base off I-10 along Mobile Bay. Service to the airport began initially in the 1930s with Eastern Air Lines, and it was most recently served by Frontier Airlines before welcoming Avelo and Breeze.
Get all the latest aviation news right here on Simple Flying.
A feasibility study conducted in 2018 by the Mobile Airport Authority determined that it was both feasible and critical to move commercial air passenger service from the Mobile Regional Airport in West Mobile (a thirty-minute drive from the city center) to the Mobile Downtown Airport in order to re-capture passenger traffic. Mobile Airport Authority President Chris Curry told NBC 15 that a significant number of area residents travel to Pensacola (PNS) and New Orleans (MSY) in neighboring states to catch direct flights, in addition to the 600,000 people fly in and out of Mobile Regional Airport annually:
"We expect to capture another 50% of traffic that we're currently losing to other airports. So that 600,000 from my perspective, I can see increasing by 300,000 within the first year."
Close
Construction on a new terminal with five gates (and the ability to expand to 12) and a new parking deck that can accommodate 1,250 vehicles is currently underway and expected to be completed in around a year. Given its convenient location next to the interstate and port, the new facility will provide additional intermodal transportation options, with a site marked for an Amtrack station included in the recently released master plan.
Get all the latest airline route news right here.
Once the new terminal is completed, the flights from Mobile Regional will shift to Mobile International. As of January 2025, Mobile Regional Airport has nonstop flights to five destinations: Atlanta (Delta Air Lines), Dallas/Fort Worth, and Charlotte (both with American Airlines), and Houston and Washington Dulles with United Airlines.