Breeze Airways Adds 7 New International Flights With Upgraded Airbus A220 Jets

Seven new nonstops to Costa Rica, Mexico, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic from Tampa, Pittsburgh, Richmond and Columbus, all flown by 137-seat Airbus A220-300s with a 12-seat premium cabin.

Breeze Airways will launch seven new international routes on its Airbus A220-300 jets between October and January, adding seats and a 12-seat premium cabin on flights from four U.S. cities.

The routes, announced separately over the past year and now loaded into the carrier’s published schedule according to Cirium data, connect Tampa, Florida; Pittsburgh; Richmond, Virginia; and Columbus, Ohio, with San José, Costa Rica; Cancún, Mexico; Montego Bay, Jamaica; and Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.

Every one of them will be flown with the A220 rather than the 108-seat Embraer E190 that carried much of Breeze’s early flying. That swap does two things: it gives Breeze more seats to sell, and it puts a front cabin on routes that never had one.

Why the aircraft change is the story

The A220-300s assigned to these routes are configured with 137 seats — 12 in the premium Breeze Ascent cabin and 125 in economy, according to the carrier’s fleet descriptions and seat maps published by AeroLOPA.

Ascent occupies rows 1 through 3 in a 2-2 layout, with roughly 39 inches of pitch and recliners fitted with leg rests. The product includes priority boarding, free bags and complimentary snacks and drinks. The economy cabin, laid out five abreast in a 2-3 arrangement, mixes standard seats with extra-legroom rows.

The airline had more than 50 A220-300s in service by mid-2026 and holds a firm order for 90 of the type, according to Airbus and industry fleet data. Remaining E190s have largely been pushed into charter and fill-in duty.

The A220’s range and fuel burn, combined with the two-cabin layout, let Breeze serve thin leisure markets that larger narrow-bodies or single-cabin low-cost jets would struggle to fill profitably.

Tampa gets three of the seven

Tampa International Airport draws the largest share of the expansion and stands to become one of Breeze’s strongest international gateways.

Service to San José starts Oct. 3, 2026, twice weekly — the first nonstop between Tampa and San José in more than 25 years, according to Tampa International Airport. Introductory fares started at $129 one-way when the route was announced March 17, 2026.

“This announcement doubles the number of international destinations Breeze serves from Tampa, making it easy for our Guests to visit great places across Central America and the Caribbean,” said David Neeleman, founder and CEO of Breeze Airways, in announcing the Costa Rica flights alongside a Tampa–Punta Cana route.

Tampa International Airport CEO Michael Stephens welcomed the pair of routes in a statement at the time.

“It’s an exciting day for Tampa International Airport as we celebrate not one, but two new international nonstop routes,” Stephens said. “With new service to San Jose, Costa Rica — our first time offering this destination from TPA in more than 25 years — and Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, we’re enhancing Tampa Bay’s access to two sought-after travel spots. We’re thrilled that Breeze is adding these routes that give our travelers even more ways to experience the beauty and culture of Latin America and the Caribbean.”

Two more Tampa routes follow on Dec. 19, 2026, both twice weekly. Cancún operates Wednesdays and Saturdays over a sector of roughly 550 miles, one of the airline’s shortest international runs, with fares from $129 one-way at announcement. Montego Bay launches the same day; Breeze had originally planned to start Tampa–Montego Bay flights in February 2026 but pushed the launch back after Hurricane Melissa struck western Jamaica in October 2025, Tampa International Airport said.

The Cancún route was announced May 5, 2026, alongside a Tampa–St. Thomas service starting Dec. 16. “With these new routes, Tampa will now offer service to all of our international destinations,” Neeleman said in the announcement.

Pittsburgh’s first Breeze international flights

Pittsburgh International Airport gains two routes on Jan. 7, 2027 — Cancún and Punta Cana — each operating three times a week on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays through March 23, 2027. Both are seasonal, and both are Breeze’s first international service from the airport.

“We are thrilled by the growth we have seen in Pittsburgh [and] are excited to start offering international service to guests in the area,” Neeleman said.

Breeze announced the two international routes alongside a domestic Pittsburgh–Vero Beach, Florida, service starting Oct. 1, 2026. Bryan Dietz, senior vice president of air service and commercial development at Pittsburgh International Airport, said in a statement: “Breeze is a fantastic partner in Pittsburgh, and we are thrilled to support their continued growth and investment with these three new routes.”

Introductory fares started at $179 one-way. After the expansion Breeze will hold 18 nonstop routes at Pittsburgh, second only to Southwest Airlines’ 21 destinations. On Cancún it will compete with American Airlines and Southwest; on Punta Cana, with American, which began flying the route in December 2025.

Richmond and Columbus restore lost nonstops

Richmond International Airport gets Cancún service beginning Jan. 8, 2027, twice weekly on Mondays and Fridays through March 22. The 1,271-mile flight is scheduled at 3 hours, 46 minutes in Cirium schedule data, though Breeze has described the trip as taking about three hours.

It is the first nonstop between Richmond and Cancún in more than a decade, and Breeze’s first international route from the airport, where the flight will be the first to use a newly renovated $7.2 million Federal Inspection Services facility.

“Richmond hasn’t had nonstop flights to Cancún for more than a decade, so we know our Guests will love this new service launching in January,” Neeleman said.

Airport spokesperson Troy Bell noted that roughly 40,000 passengers a year were connecting between Richmond and Cancún, describing it as one of the largest unserved markets in the eastern United States. Introductory fares started at $149 one-way.

Columbus follows the same pattern. John Glenn Columbus International Airport gains Punta Cana service on Jan. 8, 2027, twice weekly on Mondays and Fridays through March 22, on a sector blocked at about four hours — among Breeze’s longer international runs. Fares started at $179 one-way.

“For the first time in more than a decade, Columbus travelers can skip the layover and fly directly to one of the world’s most beautiful vacation spots,” said Daren Griffin, president and CEO of the Columbus Regional Airport Authority.

Still a sliver of the airline

For all the attention the routes draw, international flying remains a rounding error in Breeze’s operation.

Cirium schedule data reported by Simple Flying show 68 international departures from the U.S. in December 2026 against 8,476 domestic flights. Across the full year, the carrier has 85,024 domestic flights scheduled and 394 international ones. The busiest international route this December is Tampa–Nassau, Bahamas, at four to five weekly A220 flights.

Breeze began flying May 27, 2021, after being founded in 2018 as Moxy Airways. It won FAA flag-carrier certification in September 2025 following a multiyear process, and operated its first scheduled international flights in January 2026. Neeleman founded JetBlue and Azul and helped start Morris Air and WestJet.

The airline serves 88 cities in the U.S., Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, many on routes no other carrier flies, with Florida accounting for a large share of departures. Its international map by mid-2026 already included Cancún, Nassau, Punta Cana, Montego Bay and St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, meaning most of the seven new routes add city pairs rather than countries.

Schedules and fares are published in the carrier’s newsroom at flybreeze.com.