Discount airline Breeze Airways will soon become the latest airline to take a crack at serving Tallahassee from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport as part of a move designed to broaden its Florida service out of Broward County.

The Utah-based carrier announced Tuesday it will start serving Florida’s capital city in July. Overall, the Breeze expansion will add eight cities out of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood, pushing the total to 13.

Besides Tallahassee, the new in-state service includes Jacksonville and Tampa. The airline also intends to expand existing service to Pensacola.

The other new destinations are out-of-state: Birmingham, Ala., Charleston, S.C., Greenville-Spartanburg, S.C.,  Salisbury, Md., and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Pa.

Existing out-of-state service will increase to Myrtle Beach, S.C, and Savannah, Ga.

Early July kickoffs

All of the new flights will start in early July. The airline starts taking bookings today.

“Breeze was designed for convenience, and these routes will make it easier than ever for our Guests in the region to get where they want to go,” David Neeleman, founder and CEO of Breeze Airways, said in a prepared statement. “This announcement brings the total number of destinations we serve from Fort Lauderdale to 13, and we look forward to welcoming more Guests on these flights this summer.”

The Breeze expansion is a welcome addition for the airport, which saw its annual passenger traffic decline in 2025 from 2024 by 8.5% or nearly 3 million passengers. Among the setbacks: Hometown carrier Spirit Airlines of Dania Beach, the leader in airport market share, entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings for a second time with the intent of becoming smaller. Regional commuter Silver Airways ceased operations last year during a failed bid to reorganize in bankruptcy court. And Southwest Airlines cut back on flights at the airport amid a systemwide route overhaul.

“We’re very pleased with Breeze’s ongoing expansion at FLL since making its debut here last November,” CEO/Director of Aviation Mark E. Gale said in the airline’s statement. “We welcome the eight new routes announced today and look forward to growing our partnership even further.”

Founded in 2021, Breeze started service in Fort Lauderdale late last year after entering several other Florida cities first. It is part of a relatively new generation “post-2020” carriers worldwide whose business model is to provide low fares to cities that are either served infrequently by scheduled airlines, or not at all.

“From day one, we knew we didn’t want to be just another airline trying to squeeze into the same crowded markets,” Neeleman said at an airline leader summit in the Cayman Islands last April. “We wanted to go where the need existed, where people had been ignored — cities where the only options involved long drives to bigger airports or hours of connecting flights through hubs.”

Breeze operates 137-seat Airbus 220 jetliners, serving 86 cities with 300 nonstop routes.

Tallahassee confidence

Lukas Johnson, the airline’s chief commercial officer, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel  that the airline is confident it can sustain service to and from Tallahassee, a city that over the years has proven to be a revolving-door experience for airlines trying to make a profit, and passengers seeking consistent service.

In 2024, for example, JetBlue Airways halted flights between Tallahassee and Fort Lauderdale within months of its startup, citing a subpar business performance.

“I think we’ve got the right [business] model,” Johnson said. “We’ve got the right plane size, the right kind of brand and the right kind of product.”

Breeze passengers, he noted, have access to streaming Wi-Fi and electrical power at every seat. Out of the 137 seats on each plane, the cabins contain 12 first class seats and 45 “extra legroom” seats. The carrier’s onboard premium section helps support the idea that Breeze is “not just all one type of service.”

‘It’s why we’ve been able to make hundreds of routes work and Tallahassee is part of that,” Johnson said.

Florida cities currently served besides Fort Lauderdale include West Palm Beach. Key West, Fort Myers/Bradenton, Orlando, Vero Beach, Daytona Beach. Fort Myers, Sarasota, Jacksonville and Pensacola.

South Florida became the last area in Florida for expansion, Johnson said, because “we just waited to make sure the capacity is right in the market.”

Asked if Breeze is watching Spirit as it works its way through bankruptcy court, Johnson said, “we’re certainly monitoring the changes in the marketplace down there. It’s just a really dynamic time in air travel.”

“Some flights out of Fort Lauderdale are routes that used to have air service by a number of carriers and people have not had that option,” he added.

The new and expanded Breeze flight services from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood starting in early July:

Inside Florida

Jacksonville: New nonstop daily starting July 1, from $49 one way.
Tallahassee: New nonstop  Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays starting July 2, from $39 one way.
Tampa: New nonstop service operating 13 times weekly starting July 1, from $40 one way.
Pensacola: Existing route increasing from twice to six times weekly beginning July 1.

Out-of-state

Birmingham, Ala.: New nonstop on Mondays and Fridays starting July 3, from $59 one way.
Charleston, S.C.: New nonstop on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Sundays starting July 2, from $49 one way.
Greenville-Spartanburg, S.C.: New nonstop on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays starting July 2, from $49 one way.
Salisbury, Md.: New nonstop  Wednesdays and Saturdays starting July 1, from $79 one way.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Pa.: New nonstop  Wednesdays and Saturdays starting July 1, from $79 one way.
Myrtle Beach, S.C.: Existing route increasing from twice to six times weekly beginning July 1.
Savannah, Ga.: Existing route increasing from twice to four times weekly Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays beginning July 1.