PROVIDENCE – An R.I. Commerce Corp. panel has recommended nearly $3 million in state tax credits to sweeten the deal for Breeze Airways to open a permanent base at Rhode Island T.F. Green International Airport.
The Commerce Investment Committee’s vote on Monday comes nearly two months after the state announced the deal with the budget airline, which plans to open up a hub with nonstop flights, ground operations and crews out of Warwick next year. The new Rhode Island base is expected to create 200 to 250 full-time jobs, adding about $6 million in income, sales and business tax revenue over a 12-year period, the state previously announced.
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In exchange for the economic jump-start, Breeze has asked the state for $2.9 million in tax credits through its Qualified Jobs Tax Credit program. The redeemable tax credits would be distributed over a 10-year period in exchange for 116 of the jobs created at the new base, according to information from Jennifer McGee, an R.I. Commerce spokesperson. (The remaining jobs are contract positions and not eligible for the state incentive).
The jobs eligible for state incentives would pay an average $76,600 salary, with positions including pilots, airplane mechanics and leaders at the base, McGee said in an email on Monday.
With the R.I. Commerce Investment Committee’s recommendation, the proposal now goes before the full R.I. Commerce board of directors at a meeting which has not yet been scheduled.
Separately, Breeze has asked for $2.25 million in incentives for fiscal 2023 to pay for destination marketing and ground operations, which must be approved by the Air Service Development Council, another R.I. Commerce committee, according to McGee.
As part of its base at Green, Breeze plans to offer 20 nonstop routes out of Green – currently there are three – and house between six and eight aircrafts there. Company CEO David Neeleman previously estimated Breeze would spend $160 million to open a permanent base in Rhode Island.
Nancy Lavin is a PBN staff writer. Contact her at Lavin@PBN.com.
