Breeze Airways has made history by starting its first-ever scheduled international service. On January 10, the fast-growing carrier took off from Norfolk to the ever-popular beach destination of Cancun. It became Norfolk’s first international link in a quarter of a century, and was its first flight to Latin America.

According to Cirium Diio data, Norfolk is the US’s 50th-busiest airport based on departing flights. Its first international route in 25 years came as another, much smaller airport lost its first and only such service. In early January, Wilmington, North Carolina—the US’s 103rd-busiest airport—said goodbye to Punta Cana flights. Avelo’s services had only just started.

Breeze’s International Debut

At 1,101 nautical miles (2,039 km) each way, Norfolk to Cancun is Breeze’s new fifth-longest route from the Virginia airport this year, behind San Diego, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Phoenix. As you’d expect, all flights use the 137-seat Airbus A220-300.

Cancun is served weekly through April. The current plan is for the service to increase to twice-weekly—the carrier’s standard frequency—in May. As usual, passengers will have to comprise. To get a lower fare or nonstop flight, they must accept the inconvenience of a low-frequency service, or fly indirectly to have more choice.

Why Cancun? Well, it is a decent-sized market, even without nonstop flights. According to booking data, the market had 22,000 round-trip local passengers in the 12 months to October 2025. It was Norfolk’s largest international market, even larger than London (21,000), and should be the easiest to stimulate. Some people may drive from Newport News and Richmond for nonstop flights. Adding those cities brings Cancun traffic to 50,000+.

Norfolk’s Last International Service Was 25 Years Ago

According to the US Department of Transportation, Norfolk’s previous international operation existed in 2001, that most fateful of years. Air Canada operated from Toronto between July and November of that year aboard the CRJ100. Will Breeze’s Cancun link last longer?

Nearly 6,000 passengers flew to/from Toronto, but only 41% of seats were filled. Unsurprisingly, loads fell dramatically after the 9/11 attacks, with a 29% load factor in October and 23% in September. Norfolk was one of multiple US cities Air Canada ceased flying to in the aftermath of 9/11.

Air Canada decided not to return to Norfolk. However, it did fly from Toronto to Richmond between 2008—not long after the financial crash and the US’s recession—and 2013. The 37-seat Dash 8-100 was initially used, followed by the 18-seat Beech 1900. I would have liked to fly the Beech 1900 on a 385 nautical mile (713 km) sector.

Despite existing for that amount of time and the use of low-capacity equipment, the US DOT shows that the fights did poorly. The average load was just 47%, with no annual result higher than 56%. Unsurprisingly, winters were brutal, but even summers were poor.

Breeze Has 5 More International Routes Starting Soon

For now, at least, Breeze’s non-US operations will focus on Cancun and the Dominican Republic beach destination of Punta Cana. Until Jamaica’s devastating hurricane, it had also planned to fly to Montego Bay. That market is likely to be part of Breeze’s network in the future.

While it will inevitably change, five international routes are currently planned. In addition to Norfolk-Cancun, it will introduce Charleston-Cancun (starting January 17), New Orleans-Cancun (February 7), and Providence-Cancun (February 14), along with Raleigh/Durham to Punta Cana (March 4).

The link from Providence is particularly notable, as it will become Rhode Island’s sole scheduled international service. Of course, other links were available in the past, including to Europe. Providence’s last international route was to Bermuda, which BermudAir only operated for a brief spell in 2025.