LOUISVILLE, Ky. — As the nation attempts to put the pandemic in the rear view mirror, a new low-cost airline is hoping to cash in on the pent up demand for travel.

Breeze Airways announced its nationwide launch Friday, including new non stop flights from Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport.

On May 27, Breeze Airways will make its national debut with 39 nonstop routes between 16 cities. The airline’s launch was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic but now new flights will be added just in time for Memorial Day travel.

“Breeze airlines is going to be a fact, it's our eighth airline to the market, eight airlines for Louisville and it'll be 35 non stops; these are all-time records for us. So if you think of where we were a year ago with nobody traveling, we've been able to continue to grow air service in the market,” said Dan Mann, Executive Director of the Louisville Regional Airport Authority.

In Louisville, Breeze Airways will be providing direct flights to Tampa, Florida and Charleston, South Caroline starting May 28 beginning at $39. Starting July 15, another flight to New Orleans will be added. All flights will fly four times weekly.

(Breeze Airways)

“So the fact that the founder of JetBlue is launching a new airline and Louisville is one of the first cities that the airline is going to be flying to really speaks volumes to the market and the things we’ve been able to do here,” Anthony Gilmer, Director of Marketing and Air Service Development said.

With the addition of Breeze Airways, Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport now has nonstop flights to 35 destinations. Creator of Breeze Airways, David Neeleman mentioned 95% of Breeze’s early routes have no other nonstop flights.

“It's employment, disposable income, stable economy and people are starting to look at Bourbonism and fly in. So it's not just us flying somewhere, but this is about people outside of our market having a reason to come to Louisville so all of those things together made sense for Breeze to launch,” Mann said.

With Louisville having one of the fastest growing airports in the country, Breeze Airways is helping the city reach record numbers. According to Anthony Gilmer, Director of Marketing and Air Service Development, JetBlue founder David Neeleman has a one hundred percent track record.

Neeleman has had success with major U.S. airline JetBlue as well as WestJet in the U.S., Canada and South America.

“This summer we're going to have almost what we would consider normal capacity back to 2019 levels of capacity but with more Lower fares and more nonstop flights so I think June, July we will be back on our record-breaking pace for passenger numbers here at SDF,” Gilmer said.

Breeze Airways is now the eighth airline at Louisville's airport, a record-high for SDF.