After filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on the second-to-last day of 2024, Florida-based regional airline Silver Airways embarked on a restructuring process that so far has not looked reassuring for travelers.
The British overseas territory of Anguilla recently revoked the airline’s ability to fly into its main airport over nonpayment of nearly $104,000 in fees while those who booked flights out of Orlando on the weekend of March 1 suddenly found them abruptly canceled.
Silver Airways just canceled its popular flight to ‘nature’s island’
“To date, Silver’s restructuring has been going exceedingly well but unfortunately Dutch aircraft leasing company TrueNoord abruptly reversed its previously stated position and immediately required Silver to pay millions of dollars to retain the airplanes we have been flying for years,” the airline told TheStreet in a statement on the cancelations.
On March 13, a local U.S. Virgin Islands newspaper reported that Silver had also abruptly canceled its route between Puerto Rico’s San Juan (SJU) and Dominica’s Douglas–Charles Airport (DOM). A growing vacation destination and cruise port stop known for its lush nature, the island nation sits north of Guadeloupe in the eastern Caribbean Sea.
Related: Another struggling airline files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
Silver’s Flight 104 would run once a day at 3:15 p.m. Puerto Rican time and provided an important connection to Americans traveling to the smaller country as well as islanders traveling between different parts of the Caribbean for day-to-day needs and business.
According to the Virgin Islands Consortium report, many residents of the U.S. Virgin Islands and members of the Dominican diaspora would take it to get between smaller islands.
Florida based Silver Airlines is a low-cost carrier that filed for bankruptcy protection in 2024.
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These are the details around Silver’s stunning bankruptcy
“Known as nature’s island, Dominica’s unspoiled beauty is a diver and hiker’s paradise,” Silver wrote to promote the flight on the website. “Sparkling waterfalls, rushing streams and rainforest canopies surround you as you explore this culturally rich environment.”
Based in the suburb of Hollywood outside of Fort Lauderdale, Silver has built a market shuttling tourists to popular vacation destinations like Key West and Orlando in the U.S., and Nassau, St. Kitts and Santo Domingo internationally.
After acquiring and merging with Seaborne Airlines in 2018, Silver Airways also provided key flight services to residents of the U.S. Virgin Islands (Seaborne had long been a key presence there).
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Silver’s bankruptcy announcement came as it racked up over $500 million in debt and faced losing airport gate slots over unpaid fees. The most disastrous loss would have been of the airline’s home base of Fort Lauderdale — while Silver continued to fly from there, it narrowly missed eviction over more than $1.4 million in unpaid fees by making partial payments.
Spirit has not yet made public a full plan for overcoming its heavy debt load.
“We anticipate completing this process by the first quarter of 2025, emerging stronger and ready to continue serving you with the same dedication we’ve upheld for over 13 years,” Silver said in a statement on the announcement that it needed to file for Chapter 11 protection.
The carrier launched in 2010 with the assets of the bankrupt Gulfstream International Airlines and has a fleet of eight ATR 42-600s, six ATR 72-600s and two De Havilland DHC-6-300 Twin Otter seaplanes.
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