Breeze Airways Pilots Picket At Rhode Island TF Green Airport

Pilots have worked five years for the airline without a contract, according to the Air Line Pilots Association, International, union.

By Joseph Hosey, Patch Staff

May 28, 2026 11:10 am EDT

WARWICK, RI — Breeze Airways Pilots picketed at Rhode Island T.F. Green International Airport Thursday to call for a contract with the airline.

The pilots were picketing "to mark the airline’s fifth anniversary of operations — not with a celebration, but with a call for progress on a long-overdue first contract," the Air Line Pilots Association, International, union said in a media release.

“Five years without industry-standard compensation, benefits, job security, and quality-of-life protections is unacceptable," Capt. Alex Kluge, chair of the Breeze ALPA Master Executive Council, said in the release.

"There is no anniversary milestone for Breeze pilots to celebrate," Kluge said. "For us, it is a reminder that we have not had a contract since the airline was created, and there is no agreement in sight.”

The ALPA sued Breeze in federal court earlier this year, according to the release, "alleging bad-faith bargaining and saying negotiations have slowed to a crawl over the past three years due to management stalling."

"The suit asks the court to demand that the airline bargain in good faith and cease its efforts to undermine the union," the release said.

"Breeze pilots have been flying without a contract since the airline’s founding, one of only a handful of union-represented airlines that have gone this long without reaching an agreement with its pilots," according to the release.