Silver Airways, with its finances crumbling, faces liquidation
Small regional low-cost carrier Silver Airways may not survive for long.
Since filing for Chapter 11 financial restructuring in late 2024, the Fort Lauderdale-based company has been facing liquidation by the appointed bankruptcy trustee.
Silver is waiting for its restructuring plan to be reviewed by a judge, but the trustee has said the airline is experiencing substantial and ongoing losses and is making “fanciful projections.”
Judge Peter Russin of the Southern District of Florida has scheduled a May 7 hearing to hear from four of Silver’s creditors, the counties of Monroe, Tallahassee and Hillsborough and Standard Aero Atlantic, which are demanding that it return a leased turboprop engine.
The counties are demanding payment of airport fees while TrueNoord, a Dutch leasing company, is threatening to repossess the leased ATRs if millions of dollars are not paid.
A rare fleet of passenger ATRs
Silver Airways was founded in 2011 and has operated mainly from Fort Lauderdale for 13 years. The current fleet comprises three ATR 42-600s and five ATR 72-600s, the newest of which was received in 2023.
It is a rare airline in the United States to operate turboprop aircraft, which were phased out in the 1990s with the emergence of regional jets.
The route network is limited to Florida, with destinations in archipelagos in the region such as the Bahamas. In addition, Silver also maintains aircraft flying from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
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Ricardo Meier
Creator of the website that started in 1996 as a magazine. He also writes on Brazilian websites AUTOO, MOTOO and MetrôCPTM.
