Breeze Adds New West Coast Nonstop, Air Canada Resumes Montreal

Disneyland. Malibu. Santa Catalina Island.

Anyone else California dreamin’?

Breeze Airways announced Wednesday morning that it will begin nonstop service between Pittsburgh International Airport and Santa Ana John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California, starting March 31, giving passengers another option to the Los Angeles metropolitan market.

Flights will operate year-round on Mondays and Fridays on Breeze’s new Airbus A220-300 aircraft. If purchased by Tuesday, Dec. 13, for travel by Sept. 5, 2023, passengers will pay one-way fares of $139, $179 or $199 for the airline’s Nice, Nicer or Nicest sections.

Breeze also announced it will resume service between PIT and Norfolk/Virginia Beach, Virginia, which was suspended in September. Flights to Norfolk/Virginia Beach will resume May 18 and operate on Thursdays and Sundays.

“Breeze is excited to be expanding our service from Pittsburgh, including new nonstop service to Orange County and returning service to Norfolk,” said airline President Tom Doxey. “The newest nonstop route will allow guests and families in the greater Pittsburgh area to visit one of the biggest and most loved theme parks in the world.”

Breeze launched PIT in July 2021, when Pittsburgh was one of the first 16 cities served by the airline. The low-cost carrier was founded by aviation entrepreneur David Neeleman, who also started Morris Air (later acquired by Southwest), WestJet, JetBlue and Azul Brazilian Airlines.

“Nonstop service to Orange County on Breeze is a great win for Pittsburghers, providing even more options to reach Southern California in 2023,” said Bryan Dietz, senior vice president of Air Service & Commercial Development at PIT. “Thank you to our partners at Breeze for recognizing our market demand as they continue to invest in Pittsburgh.”

By next summer, Breeze will fly to six cities nonstop from PIT. In November, Breeze announced new nonstop service to New Orleans and resumed service to Hartford starting February 3.

In addition, Breeze will expand existing service to Charleston, S.C., and Providence, R.I. The airline will increase flights to Charleston to five times a week on May 20 and Providence flights to four times a week on March 31.

Breeze also becomes the second airline to fly nonstop between PIT and Southern California—a key west coast market from Pittsburgh. Currently, Spirit Airlines flies daily nonstop service to Los Angeles International Airport.

Breeze will be the first airline to link Pittsburgh and Orange County with nonstop service since US Airways, which operated the route until September 2003.

Going North?

Internationally, another carrier plans to increase its service at PIT in the coming months.

Air Canada announced Thursday it will resume its daily flights between Pittsburgh and Montreal starting May 1. The route, first launched in 2018, briefly returned last summer after a pandemic hiatus but was paused in July due to staffing shortages.

Additionally, Air Canada will increase its service between PIT and Toronto to four daily flights next summer—the route’s highest frequency since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.