Gulfport will begin offering flights to popular travel destination. Here’s what we know

A popular travel destination will now be just a short flight away from the Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport.

Airport and airline representatives announced Tuesday that, starting Feb. 6, 2025, Breeze Airlines will begin offering flights to Orlando on Thursdays and Sundays. The airline will offer an introductory offer for $49 each way.

This will be the third Breeze offering out of the Mississippi Coast airport. In January 2024, Breeze Airlines started offering flights from Gulfport to Tampa and Las Vegas — the fledgling airline’s first ever offerings from the Gulfport airport.

“[Breeze has] been evaluating our market since they’ve been here to look for other opportunities, and they’ve rapidly grown their presence in Florida, and so they looked at Orlando International as a good opportunity for us,” Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport Executive Director Clay Williams said, “You got people in South Mississippi that want to go to Orlando, they want to visit Universal Studios and and Disney World and all the amenities there in Central Florida. But it also has a strong retiree demographic that likes to come here for golf and gaming and our beaches.”

Breeze, a self-described low-cost airline, has been in operation since 2021, and operates in 66 cities across 30 states. The flight from Gulfport to Orlando will operate on an Airbus 220-300 aircraft.

According to Williams, tickets for the new route are available as of Tuesday and the introductory offer will only last until Oct. 7. Tickets for other Breeze routes normally range from $39 to $99 each way, according to Williams.

Williams says the first two Breeze offerings to Tampa and Las Vegas have so far been doing well.

“They’re nine months in, so they’re both new routes that still need to mature,” Williams said. “What we’re seeing, though, is there’s a propensity for folks that live here that want to go to Las Vegas. There is synergy with our gaming properties.”

The Sun Herald previously reported that the Tampa and Las Vegas routes, which were originally only contracted through September 2024, had been extended through January 2025. Williams says those flights will now be offered at least through May 2025.

Williams stressed that as long as travelers keep flying the Breeze Airlines flights, the airport will still be able to offer them.

“The more the service is utilized to Las Vegas, Tampa and Orlando, the better chance we have of trying to grow it. We hope [Breeze] will continue to look at us for an expansion opportunity, particularly as they grow in some of these cities that are close to us.”

Sun Country, another airline that operates out of Gulfport-Biloxi International, just resumed its fall seasonal flights to Minneapolis.

The route, which resumed on Sept. 12, operates on Thursdays and Sundays until the middle of November. According to Williams, the service has been operating seasonally since 2014.

“Primarily, it ends up being a great inbound service for us, bringing Minnesotans here to the Gulf Coast,” Williams said.

In total, the Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport offers flights on six airlines, flies to 8 non-stop destinations and offers charter flights through local gaming industry partners.

This story was originally published October 1, 2024 at 10:18 AM.