OGDEN, Utah — Commercial flights will be returning to Ogden-Hinckley Airport with a route operated by Breeze Airlines.
Starting in February, Breeze will operate a service from Ogden to Orange County, Calif., which many travelers use as a gateway to Disneyland. For now, that's the only commercial flight path Breeze will operate out of the airport, and it's unclear if other flights will be added in the future.
“We’ll look at the market and we expect it to start off pretty strong out of the gates," said Bud Hafer with Breeze. "Then you come into summer and we’ll watch the bookings and assess whether different markets or additional markets are warranted with a lot of different factors”
The announcement marks the return of commercial flights to Ogden, which stopped in 2022 as Allegiant and Avelo Airlines dropped their services.
“Low-cost carriers are an interesting breed and so they are very flexible, they operate on price point, and so they need to be in markets that are sustainable, and sometimes that means when fuel pressures happen or competitive pressures happen, they move their operations, and we saw that with both Allegiant and Avelo in 2022, unfortunately," explained Brandon Cooper, Ogden's Director of Community and Economic Development.
Ogden is the second municipal airport Breeze operates out of in the Beehive State, with the Utah-based airline already establishing itself at the Provo Airport.
During a work session and meeting Tuesday, the Ogden City Council heard about Breeze's intentions to start operations here at the airport. In a 4-2 vote, the council approved giving $250,000 over three payments to help Breeze with help with start-up costs, staffing, marketing, and possibly fuel costs as well.
Some council members and members of the public are upset with how quickly the process is happening, as not all the details have been fully ironed out, yet the money is being spent.
“While we look at this in this community as an underserved market finally having access to get to that Orange County-LA metro area, its just important for all of us remember the impact the visitor economy has has here in out own community as well," said Sara Toliver, president and CEO of Vit Ogden. "Visitors spent $460 million in Weber County in 2022, so the more we can do to raise that brand awareness, it just provides additional quality of life and amenities for our residents, so it’s as win-win.”
To celebrate the commercial flights returning to Ogden, Breeze announced nonstop routes on sale for $39 to Orange County-Sana Ana if purchased by December 5. Travelers just have to use their tickets by September 3 and only Wednesday travel dates are eligible.
