Breeze Airways CCO Wants To Take Loyalty To The Next Level

Breeze Airways is just two weeks away from launching a major enhancement to its Breezy Rewards loyalty program. Coming in January, it will be adding elite status tiers for the first time, and offering a variety of new perks for status holders, such as instant upgrades, free Wi-Fi, and discounted buddy passes.

Simple Flying sat down with Lukas Johnsonchief commercial officer at Breeze, to discuss what the loyalty enhancements mean for the airline and its customers. He shared that Breeze is bucking the trend of other airlines, adding benefits rather than taking them away, as it pushes forward with its next stage of growth. But he also made clear that Breeze is looking to capitalize on its winning product in a way that will shake up established carriers like Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines.

The Strategy Behind Enhanced Breezy Awards

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Avid aviation followers already know that Breeze Airways has had remarkable success since its launch in 2021. It achieved its first profitable quarter ahead of schedule in 2024, and this year alone it has added approximately 70 new routes and entered 15 new markets. Johnson says that customers love the product that Breeze has built, the airline “has the highest net promotor scores in the industry” (a measure of customer satisfaction) and that their repeat business is booming:

“We’ve created a really compelling value proposition, it’s very differentiated from everything else out there. We see customers try us for the first time, and they’re converted immediately, they go and tell their family and friends, and then they come back, and they upgrade their experience at much higher rates.”

That value proposition is centered around direct non-stop routes from secondary cities. It means finding gaps in the market, and using right-sized aircraft to profitably serve them. It’s no coincidence that Breeze has no direct competitors on 87% of its nonstop routes. But Breeze still battles indirect competition: Someone wanting to get from Charleston to Orlando might still choose Delta via Atlanta, or pick American Airlines via Chicago for their Akron to Las Vegas trip.

But why, when there is a far more convenient non-stop? The answer is that often they remain tied to their legacy loyalty programs. So this is the core strategy behind Breeze enhancing Breezy Rewards: To differentiate itself further, and provide enough temptation for those “legacy loyalists” to try something new. As Johnson says:

“We know we have the better product. It’s just a better experience. Every time I fly with us, I see people saying ‘holy cow, this is a brand-new jet’ or ‘there’s so much space,’ we know we have a more premium feel. So what we’re saying is we’re also making our program nicer. When everyone else is taking benefits away, we’re adding them. So come give us a try.”

This is why Johnson expects the enhanced Breezy Awards to shake up carriers like Delta and Southwest. Breeze isn’t competing with the Delta One experience on an Airbus A350. It’s competing with a regional carrier branded as Delta, flying an older aircraft and less premium product on a less convenient hub-and-spoke route.

So its putting added benefits in front of potential customers to pique their curiosity and get them to compare Breeze’s brand-new Airbus A220 experience with a regional CRJ experience. Or in the case of Southwest, to get them to contrast a loyalty program that is adding benefits to one that seems to be perpetually taking them away.

The Details Of The Breezy Rewards Enhancements

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Starting in January, Breeze will be adding a new elite status system of four tiers — Breezy 1, Breezy 2, Breezy 3 and Breezy Club — which can be reached based on spend. The first tier, Breezy 1, requires members to earn at least 15,000 BreezePoints during the qualifying year. It features perks such as one confirmable Bundle Upgrade each year, a 25% BreezePoint earnings boost, and free Wi-Fi.

Johnson emphasizes that the program enhancements are designed to appeal to passengers who miss some of the benefits that have been removed from other programs:

“Others have made it nearly impossible to get an upgrade. We’re making it easier. Its going to be right after booking, you’re going to know that you’ve got that upgrade locked in. And buddy passes, you can use them for anyone, your partner, a kid, a friend, whoever. We’re not restricting it like others do.”

Breezy Rewards members earn between 1 and 5 BreezePoints per dollar spent on flights and add-ons, depending on which type of fare is purchased. But another change is that while BreezePoints are valued at a minimum of one cent, they can be valued higher when redeemed for rewards travel on certain flights and dates. “Everybody else is decreasing the value of points, but we’re actually increasing the value of ours,” says Johnson.

Johnson also emphasized the value of the airline’s Breeze Easy Visa Credit Cardwhich doubles BreezePoints earnings when used for airline purchases. It also comes with an introductory offer of 40,000 BreezePoints, allowing customers to rapidly scale the Breezy Rewards tiers.

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Here’s How Breeze Has Got The Product Right

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The Breezy Rewards enhancements are rooted in Breeze Airlines’ confidence that it has got its product offering right, and that first-time customers will return again and again. Simple Flying asked Johnson a bit more about that, and he emphasized the experienced leadership of the airline, notably CEO and serial airline founder David Neelemanand the fact that they spotted the premium leisure trend early.

“If you’re building an airline, unless people love it, they’re not going to pay for it again. So we started from scratch with better planes, premium seats, friendly people, just making the journey seriously nice. That’s the philosophical difference between a lot of the low-cost carriers and us, you know, where people try to avoid them, people come running back to us.”

Johnson also credits the airline’s early choice of the Airbus A220 as the cornerstone of its fleet, saying that Breeze will be an all-A220 airline by next summer.

“The A220 really is the Swiss Army Knife of aircraft. It’s the right size for smaller markets, it is super-efficient on those one or two-hour East Coast routes, it can fly right across the country, or it can fly across the water to all the new international destinations that we’re adding next year.”

Breeze Airways currently operates 51 A220s and eight Embraer E-190s, with the latter scheduled for full retirement within a few months. The 137-seat A220s are configured with 12 Breeze Ascent business class recliners, 45 extra legroom seats, and 80 economy seats. The airline has a firm order for 90 of the type with 30 options, and Neeleman has indicated that the airline anticipates exercising all of these.