Last time Brownsville had a direct flight to Orlando, it flopped. Why this time might be different.

For the second time in three years, the Brownsville South Padre Island International Airport announced a new nonstop flight to Orlando, Fla.

On Wednesday, airport officials announced Brownsville was one of four cities and 14 routes Breeze Airways added to its offerings, and there’s some indication the service will have staying power.

The new route is slated to run twice a week beginning in May, with flights starting as low as $79 each way.

Utah-based Breeze Airways, which began service in 2021, describes its focus as affordability, comfort and efficiency.

Second attempt

Breeze’s route isn’t the first Brownsville flight to Orlando.

In May 2023, Houston-based Avelo Airlines began offering $69 nonstop flights to Orlando from Brownsville.

That route’s first flight to Brownsville was greeted by much fanfare: balloons, a water arch, and a drumline performance.

A little over a year later, however, no one was celebrating. 

Avelo wasn’t filling flights, and in July 2024, it reduced flight operations and severed ties with Brownsville.

The company said it wasn’t making money.

“We learned a lot,” Brownsville City Commissioner Tino Villarreal said. “I thought it was really good, we saw good numbers and spikes during peak times. But during non-peak times, it just became a little too much for us to handle as a city. It wasn’t beneficial for them or us to have this massive airliner and not even be able to fill half of the plane.”

That left Brownsville with a bit of a problem: hundreds of families flew to Orlando to vacation every year. Villarreal said a study found there were about 400 of those families and other plane passengers to which the airport very much wanted to cater.

Smaller planes, new demand

Then, Breeze approached the city with an interesting asset.

Avelo flew 737s, some of which could have over 180 passengers onboard.

But Breeze flies the Airbus 220-300, which seats 137 passengers.

Villarreal says less seats to fill made the airport more interested in betting on the route again.

SpaceX also made a renewed attempt more attractive.

According to Villarreal, SpaceX currently employs about 4,300 people and expects to double that number by next year.

Breeze’s new route will run from Brownsville to Orlando twice a week — Mondays and Fridays — making it an attractive option for commuters.

Villarreal says SpaceX indicated there would be interest and even offered to incorporate the flight in its employee portal.

“The last thing you want to do is bring in another airline that might struggle to fill and be a bust,” Villarreal. “So you really have to take that into consideration. So having that SpaceX factor and a smaller, comfortable aircraft, I think it could work. So that’s why we took that chance again.”

Tourism and airport growth

Long term, Villarreal said, the flight might see considerable benefit from yet another class of passengers.

Eventually, more tourists may be paying to come to Brownsville than go to Orlando.

Villarreal said tourism in the Rio Grande Valley related to SpaceX rocket launches is significant and expected to become more significant.

“In the last two years, they’ve done 10 successful tests, 10 flights,” Villarreal said. “But the goal is for them to do a flight a month. Eventually the goal is for them to do a flight a week. So when you start looking at the amount of people who want to fly in here…it’s important for us.”

The new Breeze route is one of several recent developments at the Brownsville South Padre Island International Airport.

In December the airport celebrated the groundbreaking of a new Hunt PanAm hangar and operations facility, and last week a flight academy opened adjacent to the airport.

Villarreal also said land may soon be purchased for a runway expansion.

All those changes, he said, are indications that the airport is growing alongside the Brownsville area and its industries.

“The airport’s starting to drive a little bit of that momentum. You start seeing it shifting,” he said.