Tampa travelers headed to the Dominican Republic are getting a new nonstop option. Breeze Airways will begin year-round service between Tampa International Airport and Santo Domingo starting June 18, 2027, flying twice weekly on Mondays and Fridays aboard an Airbus A220-300.
The announcement, detailed by Tampa International Airport, also includes a new one-stop BreezeThru connection linking Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to Tampa. That route, which requires no change of plane, is set to begin May 26, 2027, operating Wednesdays and Saturdays, according to AirlineGeeks. WFLA also reported on the twin route additions, which give Tampa-area fliers more ways to connect through Breeze's growing network.
Neeleman Touts Tampa Demand
David Neeleman, Breeze Airways' founder and CEO, said the airline continues to see strong demand for its model in the market. “We continue to see great demand for our high-value, low-cost model in Tampa,” Neeleman said, according to the Tampa airport's announcement. He added that the Santo Domingo and Portsmouth flights will give Tampa travelers more options to fly Breeze.
The Santo Domingo launch builds on Breeze's recent push into the Caribbean. The carrier began nonstop service from Tampa to Punta Cana on July 2, 2026, the same announcement notes, part of a broader expansion that has already brought Breeze to Nassau, Bahamas, with four weekly flights since its first-ever international nonstop out of Tampa.
Conflicting Counts On International Reach
Exactly how many international destinations Breeze will serve from Tampa once Santo Domingo launches is unclear. The Tampa airport's own release states Santo Domingo will mark Breeze's sixth international destination from the airport, while a separate count from Simple Flying puts the airline at five international routes from Tampa once its broader 13-route international network is complete. Tampa remains, for now, the only Florida airport from which Breeze flies internationally, per Simple Flying.
The expansion extends well beyond Tampa. The same AirlineGeeks report notes Breeze's latest round of growth includes four new destinations and nearly two dozen new routes systemwide, pushing its high-value, low-cost service to 95 cities. The airline also plans to grow capacity at Myrtle Beach by 70% compared with 2026, the outlet reports.
International Routes Still Finding Their Footing
Breeze's international push comes even as those routes lag behind domestic performance. Through June, the carrier carried 20,624 round-trip international passengers with a load factor of just 59.5%, compared with nearly four million domestic passengers and an 80.9% load factor, per Simple Flying's reporting. Still, the airline is betting on routes with little direct competition — the outlet notes seven of Breeze's 13 international routes, or 54%, won't face head-to-head rivals.
Santo Domingo won't be one of those uncontested markets. Frontier Airlines is scheduled to begin nonstop service between Tampa and Santo Domingo's Las Americas International Airport on December 17, 2026, according to flight-tracking site FlightsFrom.com, which lists the route as roughly 1,054 miles and a flight time of about two hours and 47 minutes. By the end of 2026, Breeze expects to serve 37 destinations from Tampa International Airport overall, including six across the Caribbean and Latin America, the airport's announcement states.
