In the first three days of October, Breeze Airways, Southwest Airlines, and Allegiant Air introduced 13 routes. Unsurprisingly, most of them were started by the fast-growing and still relatively new Breeze. They included Salisbury, which marked the carrier’s debut in Maryland.
Seven of the 12 airport pairs were unserved when the relevant carrier began flights. Much more interestingly, five of the airport pairs are brand-new. No airline has ever served them before. Needless to say, Southwest didn’t start them.
These 2 Routes Began On October 1
On Wednesday, October 1, Breeze took off from 
Orlando International, which is now its most-served airport, to Salisbury. Airbus A220-300 flights run twice-weekly, which is the carrier’s usual frequency. Its entry means that Salisbury has two carriers for the first time in over a decade.
Breeze joins American Eagle, which serves its heavy fortress hubs of Charlotte and Philadelphia. While Salisbury-Orlando International flights have not previously existed, Allegiant operated from Sanford in 2012/2013. Breeze has become the Maryland airport’s only new carrier since Allegiant pulled out.
On the same day, Breeze inaugurated flights from Tampa to Rochester (NY), which is—as you might have guessed—also flown twice-weekly on the 137-seat A220-300. It competes directly with the increasingly evolving 
Southwest, although ultra-low-cost carrier Frontier pulled out in April 2023. US Department of Transportation data for April 2024-March 2025 shows 220 daily passengers, of which 173 flew via a hub. It’s a decent-sized market that’s underserved.
6 Routes Launched On October 2
The additions included Appleton to Gulf Shores, with the Alabama airport only opening to commercial service in May 2025. Serving this part of the state’s coast and the western portion of the Florida Panhandle, it is located around an hour’s drive from Pensacola. Allegiant is Gulf Shores’ sole operator.
The very thin Wisconsin to Alabama link marks the first time that the two states have ever had nonstop scheduled passenger flights. Moreover, no place in the Florida Panhandle has ever been served from Appleton. Green Bay, which is situated fairly close to Appleton, is in the same boat.
|
Route |
Operations |
Comments |
|---|---|---|
|
Appleton-Gulf Shores |
Allegiant; twice-weekly A320ceo |
A never-before-served market |
|
Austin-Jacksonville |
Southwest; six weekly to daily |
Competes directly with Delta Connection |
|
Fresno-San Diego |
Southwest; 13 weekly to twice-daily |
Competes face-to-face with Alaska Airlines |
|
Long Island-Wilmington (NC) |
Breeze; twice-weekly A220-300 |
Competes directly with Avelo, which began the route in June |
|
Rochester (NY)-Myrtle Beach |
Breeze; twice-weekly A220-300 |
No direct competition, but the troubled Spirit recently pulled out earlier this year |
|
Tampa-Wilmington (NC) |
Breeze; twice-weekly A220-300 |
Competes face-to-face with Avelo |
As a proxy for the existing, non-stimulated demand, Appleton/Green Bay to Pensacola/Mobile has 30 daily round-trip passengers. As usual, Allegiant will need to meaningfully grow the market to fill its 180-seat A320ceos twice a week. It will do this through nonstop flights, low fares, and promotions. The latter may be undertaken by itself and the marketing teams of the airports at both ends of the route.
These 5 Routes Started On October 3
On Friday, October 3, Allegiant took off from Des Moines to Gulf Shores and Knoxville to Key West, while Breeze introduced Orlando to Norfolk, Raleigh/Durham to Key West, and Tampa to Charleston (WV). For a carrier that typically avoids direct competition, Breeze will face Frontier, Southwest, and Spirit between Orlando and Norfolk. It believes it’s worth the fight, but that remains to be seen.
Four of the five airport pairs had no direct competition when the carriers began flights. Moreover, three of them—Des Moines to Gulf Shores and Knoxville and Raleigh/Durham to Key West—have never been served at all. Some 44 daily passengers flew indirectly between the North Carolina airport and Key West.
Tampa to Charleston was flown by Breeze for three months in 2023. The US DOT shows it only filled a ridiculously low 48% of the available seats. With the data and aircraft availability that it has, it must be confident that it’ll perform much better this time. Time will tell.
