Breeze Airways gets first Airbus for layout ‘experiment’

After making do with smaller planes for its launch earlier this year, Breeze Airways on Tuesday collected its first Airbus A220, with novel plans to change the capacity of its premier cabin as the seasons change. The startup carrier expects to have three dozen business-class seats in the initial configuration but will change that count in rapid makeovers to as few as 12 seats to accommodate shifting demand. “We’re going to experiment with it, we’re going to see how it goes,” CE David Neeleman said at Airbus’s Mobile, Alabama, assembly plant. Most US airlines keep their cabin layouts stable. Neeleman, who founded Breeze, said other carriers price their premium cabins in ways that limit demand. He hopes to encourage passengers to trade up to plusher seats with more legroom by charging just $50 or so above the economy fare. The A220 is the first new airplane to enter Breeze’s fleet. The Utah-based airline began flying in May with used Embraer E190 regional jets.<br/>