A Florida-based airline announced it would immediately stop flying after a bankruptcy sale ceased operations, leaving passengers suddenly without flights on the day of travel.
Silver Airways released a statement to its customers on Wednesday, 11 June, informing them it is ceasing operations immediately.
“In an attempt to restructure in bankruptcy, Silver entered into a transaction to sell its assets to another airline holding company.”
It added that the holding company “unfortunately has determined to not continue Silver’s flight operations in Florida, the Bahamas and the Caribbean”.
“Please do not go to the airport,” Silver Airways added. “All credit card purchases should be refunded through your credit card company or your travel agency.”
Silver Airways had a series of routes flying to, from and within Florida, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico and Caribbean Islands, with flights in and out of Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport being one of the most common.
The airline had dozens of flights scheduled on Wednesday and throughout June, data from FlightRadar shows, but the airline has announced that these will be cancelled.
Passengers who booked journeys to and from Florida, the Bahamas or within the Caribbean will now have to rebook onto a new flight and seek a refund.
Silver Airways flight operations were still taking place across most of their routes right up until Tuesday, the day before it stopped flying.
However, in prior months, it had reduced its fleet by half, as well as abruptly stopping services to and from Orlando in March.
In December, the airline told its customers that it voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 protection in a bankruptcy court in the Southern District of Florida.
At the time, it said the decision would allow Silver Airways to secure additional capital and carry out financial restructuring.
It predicted that by the first quarter of 2025, this process would be complete, and it would then be in a stronger position to continue serving customers. The airline was more than $100 million in debt, according to WLRN.
The airline had a stalking horse acquisition offer from a firm of around $5.7 million, but at a recent bankruptcy auction ordered by a court judge in hopes of securing larger funding to pay off the debts, the regional airline received no bids to take over the company.
Silver Airways launched in 2011 off the back of the assets from another defunct service, Gulfstream International Airlines.
Over the next 14 years, the regional airline became a popular choice for ferrying tourists between Florida and the Caribbean, using short-haul turbo ATR aircraft.
While the airline remained favoured in the region, Silver Airways began facing fuel and maintenance cost issues, exacerbated by the lack of travel in the Covid pandemic.
Simon Calder, Travel Correspondent of The Independent, said: “Silver Airways provided essential connectivity to, from and within Florida. But evidently they couldn’t make the concept of ‘domestic airline’ for the Sunshine State financially sustainable.
“No one should lose out financially, since credit-card firms will refund any air fares – the problem is going to be finding alternative transport.
“It remains to be seen if anyone will move in to replace Silver Airways on some of its network.”
The airline’s announcement comes at the same time that Qantas revealed it will be shutting down Jetstar Asia after 20 years of operations.
Jetstar Asia will reduce its flight schedule across the next seven weeks before operations cease on 31 July.
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