Breeze Airways, positioning itself as the world’s nicest airline, requires its future cabin crew members to enroll full-time in an online college.
Breeze Airways has stated that their future employees would be hired according to their “commitment to customer service and kindness”. “Breeze is looking for “Seriously Nice” current and future Utah Valley University (UVU) Full Time, On-Line students, to work at the newest and nicest airline as a Flight Attendant!” the job advertisement reads.
The airline is partnering with UVU and offering the online students to join the flight attendants crew. The selected candidates must enroll at UVU as full-time online students, completing 30 course hours per year. They must also complete their online degree in four years and maintain a GPA of 3.0 or higher. The university costs must be covered by the applicants until they make it through the flight attendant training course.
In return, the company is offering tuition reimbursement up to $6,000 per year for most UVU programs as well as corporate housing at a location the airline determines. However, the housing will also be shared, which is not the case with any other American airline.
Other airlines also have educational programs for their employees. For example, JetBlue (JBLU) has a JetBlue Scholars program that helps the company’s employees to get a degree in higher education. However, Breeze Airways is the only one in the US where being enrolled in the university is a prerequisite for the job.
“Seriously nice” seems to be the company’s marketing tagline. It aims to be a low-cost airline with an improved flight experience: more legroom, better food and cheaper prices.
“20 years ago, we brought humanity back to the airline industry with JetBlue (JBLU),” the founder of Breeze Airways, David Neeleman, said in a statement. “Today, we’re excited to introduce plans for ‘the World’s Nicest Airline’.”
Based in Salt Lake City, Utah, Breeze Airways was due to launch its first flights in the second half of 2020, but the coronavirus pandemic shifted the date to 2021. The company, previously known as Moxy, plans to operate flights to underserved, mid-sized city-pairs in the US.