Breeze Airways gets a lot of attention. Given that it is relatively new, fast-growing, and adds many previously unserved routes, that is not particularly surprising. The carrier recently started flying internationally, while more routes began last week and the week before that.

According to the US Department of Transportation, Breeze carried just over six million passengers in the 12 months to November 2025. Passenger volume rose by 49% compared to the prior 12 months. As traffic increased slightly faster than additional capacity (+48%), its seat load factor rose too. Some 77.4% of its seats were filled, which was about four points lower than for the US’s whole domestic market.

Breeze’s Ten Worst Routes For Load Factor

Credit: GCMap

Caution is needed. While looking at seat load factors can be interesting, it is important to realize it is just one performance measure. It should not be considered in isolation from other factors, particularly fares and yields. Moreover, the data does not distinguish between cabins.

Of course, reality is also needed. Routes with exceptionally poor loads, like some of those shown below, would obviously be doing very badly overall. But even then, there are usually reasons for it or at least broader context. For example, perhaps it has funding or started late in the examined period or has already ceased operating or has a good amount of so-called BreezeThru traffic.

The following list is based on examining all 267+ routes operated by Breeze between December 2024 and November 2025. All of them were far below the carrier’s average load of 77.4%. To avoid one-offs, other time-limited operations, or any other oddities, only links with at least 1,500 passengers are included.

Breezing From Dulles To Ogdensburg

Credit: Breeze

The carrier began this unusual route to near the Canadian border, which covers 355 nautical miles (657 km) each way, on September 27, 2024. It replaced United Express, which operated between 2019 and 2022. All of Breeze’s flights have been on its 137-seat A220-300s.

Breeze’s interest in this market is simply because of the funding. Regardless of how many passengers are carried, it gets around $18 million through September 2026. Whether it will be funded to continue operating beyond then remains to be seen.

Despite the funding, its loads were so poor that it was unwilling to continue offering a daily flight. In September 2025, flights were slashed to four times a week.

Between December 2024 and November 2025, it filled just 24.7% of seats, with its monthly load varying from a laughably poor 12.0% (in January 2025) to a high of 39.7% (in October 2025). That’s despite many $30 fares.

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Breeze Vs. United Express

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Breeze’s loads have, of course, been dire. It would not have considered this route for a second but for the substantial funding. In contrast, United Express served the market with much more suitable 50-seat CRJs (rather than 137-seaters). And importantly, Ogdensburg also had access to United’s full network behind Dulles.

Even when United Express operated, only 47.7% of seats were filled in 2019, although the pandemic meant traffic and loads fell dramatically thereafter. In 2019, United Express filled about 24 seats, while Breeze filled 34 seats on its much-larger machines. But, does this market really warrant serving at all? Do the apparent economic benefits—for which funding is broadly given—really demand it?