Tri-Cities Airport celebrates inaugural Breeze Airways flight

BLOUNTVILLE — Community members, leaders and partner organizations filled the Tri-Cities Airport Friday evening to celebrate the airport's first Breeze Airways flights to and from Orlando, Florida. Groups gathered at the main terminal to welcome inbound passengers and mark the start of new Breeze service. Offboarding passengers were handed festively decorated bottles of Dr. Enuf and could pose for photos while greeted with live music from local artist Momma Molasses. The Mazzarro family, one of the first to deboard the Orlando flight to the Tri-Cities, said they are traveling to Sugar Mountain to go snowboarding and skiing. Emily Mazzaro said it was pretty cool to be a part of the inaugural flight, especially when otherwise it would have been a 10-hour drive. Regional partners also held their own ribbon cutting at the boarding gate before each departure. There was cake, kettle corn and other refreshments offered before people boarded. Jessica and Mark Hollomon of Kingsport were dressed with Disney apparel to board the flight to Orlando. The duo are flying down to Orlando for the weekend to visit Disney World. Jessica Holloman said they are excited there is now a direct flight offered from Tri-Cities Airport to the Orlando International Airport. Officials react Gene Cossey, president and CEO of the Tri-Cities Airport Authority, called Breeze a "wonderful vacation destination type of airline." He said these added flights will be of benefit not only to the community but those wanting to experience the area for the first time. "Their impact here is going to be great not just for people who want to go on vacation or people who want to take trips," he said. "Whether that's business trips or personal trips that fit in with that brief schedule, but it's going to give us the opportunity to attract more people to come here and change that dynamic to us being a destination for people outside the area." Cossey said BRIDGE is continuing their air service recruitment efforts. He expects there to be steady progression of additional flights at the airport in the future, with the Small Community Air Service Development grant (or SCASD grant) still on the table from several years ago. "We're hopeful that other people in the airline industry will see the success of the BRIDGE group's efforts with Breeze and want to make that happen as well," he said. "And I know that the BRIDGE group is continuing to work on more efforts to try to build even more opportunities for these same types of deals." BRIDGE Executive Director John Rose not only helped coordinate the effort to bring a new airline to the airport, he also boarded the flight to Orlando to experience the first flight himself. He emphasized the new flights would have not been possible without the support of regional partners, both public and private. "We are thrilled to be here, and it means so much for the region," Rose said before boarding. "The tourism partners that have worked so hard, the municipalities have provided funding for this and the private companies. It took a team effort, and it's a great win for the region." The inaugural flight to and from Washington, D.C. will be Monday, where similar celebrations will occur.