Breeze Airways, the scrappy ‘premium leisure’ start-up that’s creating a passionate following at the secondary airports it serves, was on the lookout for innovative catering ideas during last week’s APEX Global Expo in Long Beach — with an eye on offering enhanced dining options to passengers on future international flights.
The Expo features vendors from the International Flight Services Foundation (IFSA), which serves the needs and interests of the onboard services industry.
“You know on my mind right now is catering space, food,” Breeze Chief Guest Officer Fiona Kiesel confided to Runway Girl Network during the show. She added: “[T]he catering really interests me.”
Does that mean that Breeze — an Airbus A220 operator with a philosophy of being “seriously nice” — is thinking about offering meal options for passengers up front in its Safran-made Ascent premium recliner product on longer haul flights? After all, the carrier provides these passengers with complimentary Viasat Ka-band satellite-powered inflight connectivity plus snacks and beverages. And they can acquire snack boxes via Breeze’s buy-on-board menu.
“Not yet,” said Kiesel in reference to an enhanced catering offering, but added: “I do think we’re going to be getting there. We currently are operating a lot of flights that are 2hr 30min or less.
“We did recently submit all of our manuals to the FAA to start flying internationally for flag [carrier] certification and we’re following that with ETOPS [extended-range twin-engine operations]. So, we are expanding outside of the United States pretty soon.”
Europe is not in the immediate cards. “Not soon,” admitted Kiesel. “And really only because the ETOPS certification is a couple of years after flag and Europe requires ETOPS. So, think closer to the United States.”
Breeze offers Ascent-branded recliners and free snacks & beverages to customers of its Nicest fare bundle. Passengers, including in Ascent, can also pay for snack boxes. Image: Mary Kirby
In terms of the ground experience, Breeze reckons it will stick with the premium leisure approach and forego lounge spaces.
“It’s really interesting because I came over here three-and-a-half months ago from almost 25 years at United. And one of the things I had in my mind… was, well, what are we going to do in the future with premium in the airport and lounges and that sort of thing. But now that I’ve traveled to almost all of our airports, I don’t think we’re ever going to need to go into that space,” Kiesel said. “The airports that we fly to are smaller. They have a bit of a nostalgic feel, these smaller airports. They’re really fast to get through and they’re not overly crowded.
“So like myself, I fly probably four to six times a week. I live in Chicago right now, so I’m constantly flying out of O’Hare into our smaller airports and then connecting onto the Breeze network. And the feeling that I get in a city like O’Hare is that I need to find a lounge. I need some quiet. I need a snack. I don’t get that feeling in any of our airports. The airports themselves are almost like flying private.”
The Ascent product up front, much like the Viasat Wi-Fi, has proven extremely popular, she noted.
“[W]e serve underserved airports. These are airports that have historically had maybe regional carriers or smaller aircraft come in. And so getting a larger jet into some of these locations with a first class-like product is really exciting to a lot of people.”
Little wonder then why the carrier is seeing growth in its Net Promoter Score (NPS).
“So, we’re creating a real following here at Breeze, which is really, really exciting,” Kiesel said.
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