Florida-based Silver Airways cancels all flights, tells passengers not to go to airport
Silver Airlines cancels all flights
Silver Airlines posted a message on its website telling travelers not to go to the airport because it is ending operations immediately, which ended flights and put employees out of a job. FOX 13's Kylie Jones reports.
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. - Silver Airways announced early Wednesday that it is ceasing operations immediately, canceling all upcoming flights.
The backstory:
The airline, which was based in Hollywood, Florida, and had a hub in Tampa, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December 2024.
At the time, Silver Airways promised to continue normal operations, but some flights were abruptly canceled as far back as early March.
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The airline was founded in 2011 and previously served Tampa, Orlando, Pensacola, Fort Lauderdale and Key West, along with airports in the Caribbean and the Bahamas.
Silver Airways debuted their ATR-42-600s at the Farnborough International Air Show in 2018. (Photo credit: Silver Airways)
Early Wednesday, Silver Airways posted a statement on its website, writing:
"We regret to inform you that we are ceasing operations as of today, June 11, 2025. In an attempt to restructure in bankruptcy, Silver entered into a transaction to sell its assets to another airline holding company, who unfortunately has determined to not continue Silver’s flight operations in Florida, the Bahamas and the Caribbean. Please do not go to the airport. All credit card purchases should be refundable through your credit card company or your travel agency."
Big picture view:
"Airline bankruptcies are sadly not uncommon, but airlines shutting down are rare," Henry Harteveldt, an Airline Industry Analyst with Atmosphere Research Group, said.
Harteveldt says the abrupt circumstances of this shutdown are unusual.
"For an airline to shut down during the peak summer season is very unusual," Harteveldt said.
He also pointed out that hundreds of employees suddenly lost their jobs as a result.
Drew Dawson, a Professor of Bankruptcy Law at the University of Miami, says the airline operated with very slim margins.
"If you look at Silver, they're kind of like, a long history of going in and out of bankruptcy, or different regional carriers that have failed and reunited through bankruptcy," Dawson said.
Silver Airways has shut down all operations as of Wednesday, June 11.
He says the industry of airlines operating on slim margins is competitive and that any sort of disruption can throw off the whole business model.
"They had a fairly small fleet when they entered bankruptcy, right, and it just kept getting smaller," Dawson said.
Experts say Silver Airways serves a number of vacation destinations, in addition to business travel around Florida.
"One thing that dogged Silver for a long time has been its poor on-time performance," Harteveldt said.
It's not clear who was poised to buy the airline.
"When one company buys another, you expect that they are buying it to continue operating that company, whether it's an airline or a donut shop, right?" Harteveldt said. "But for them to have made this assessment that Silver was not worth continuing as an ongoing business is extremely rare and quite a shock."
The Source: This story was written with information provided by Silver Airways in a statement posted on June 11, 2025, along with previous FOX 13 News reports.
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