Silver Airways, a low-cost airline based outside Fort Lauderdale, filed for bankruptcy on the second-to-last day of 2024.
The budget carrier flew to popular vacation markets such as Key West and Tampa, Fla., domestically and to the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic.
But it accrued more than $500 million of debt amid increased competition and the rising costs of running flights.
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On Dec. 30, Silver Airways filed for Chapter 11 protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida so it could continue to operated even if individual airports started to revoke its gate slots.
The airline faces eviction from its hub at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) hub. And the British overseas territory of Anguilla recently revoked Silver’s ability to fly into Clayton J. Lloyd International Airport (AXA) over nonpayment of nearly $104,000 in airport fees.
Related: Another regional airline declares bankruptcy, gets sued
Silver Air flights out of Orlando were canceled
While Silver has continued to sell flights and reassure travelers that it was continuing operations as usual, those traveling on the weekend of March 1 and 2 discovered that flights out of Orlando International Airport (MCO) were abruptly canceled.
“We received notification yesterday afternoon that effective immediately all departing and arriving flights” with Silver Airways are canceled, Angela Starke, an MCO spokesperson, told local press.
The airline has yet to issue an official statement on the cancellations. TheStreet could not Silver Airways for comment.
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Many passengers reported learning from news reports about the cancellation of flights they were expecting to board in several hours.
“They canceled our flight on Monday from Fort Lauderdale to Orlando, and we’ve been at the Tampa airport since 9 a.m. for our flight at 3:00 p.m. to Fort Lauderdale and now it’s delayed until 4:45 p.m.,” one traveler wrote under the Reddit forum for aviation.
Another traveler reported being stuck on Great Exuma Island in the Bahamas on March 1.
“Flight to FLL keeps getting delayed but what’s worse is that I have a JetBlue JBLU flight from FLL to BOS tomorrow (originally for tonight) that I keep having to cancel and reschedule,” another Reddit user wrote
Silver Air hopes to complete Ch. 11 process in Q1
At the time of announcing that it was filing for bankruptcy, Silver said that it “anticipate[s] completing this process by the first quarter of 2025” and “emerging stronger and ready to continue serving you with the same dedication we’ve upheld for over 13 years.”
In past cases where regional airlines went bankrupt, some travelers with booked flights booked travel on other airlines by paying out of pocket and seeking compensation later.
Related: All-you-can-fly for $399? Frontier tweaks popular program
In remote vacation destinations with limited service, this kind of situation prompts fares to spike as people are willing to pay what it takes to get home.
When peer budget vacation carrier Canada Jetlines filed for bankruptcy and saw a number of executives walk off last August, the airline told passengers to “contact their credit card company” for any lost money as it would not be able to help.
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