By Jon Hemmerdinger2021-05-27T16:57:00+01:00
The first Breeze Airways flight took off from Tampa International airport at 10:44 local time on 27 May, marking the launch of a new US airline and another chapter in the start-up-studded career of founder David Neeleman.
Most of its 118 seats occupied, including one by Neeleman, the Embraer 195 climbed over Tampa Bay and banked north, headed for Charleston in South Carolina as Breeze flight 1.
“It’s a monumental task,” Neeleman says of achieving Federal Aviation Administration certification and getting Breeze airborne. “It was really a difficult [process] getting this… certification.”
Source: Jon Hemmerdinger / FlightGlobal
Breeze founder David Neeleman pops champagne ahead of Breeze Airways’ inaugural flight from Tampa to Charleston, South Carolina, on 27 May 2021.