As Spirit sails through Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and prepares to exit, fellow Florida-based airline Silver is not quite having the same luck. After a whole lot of drama, the airlines’s fleet is shrinking and it has cut back flights with no notice. Silver’s outlook is… cloudy… at best.
After Silver stopped flying for Amazon’s Prime Air in 2023, the airline had 14 aircraft flying around Florida and the Caribbean. Eight of those were ATR-42s with another six larger ATR-72s. One of the ATR-42s left the fleet in late August, and then the airline filed for bankruptcy protection on December 30, 2024.
It was supposed to be a speedy trip through bankruptcy, but there have been hiccups along the way. On January 15, the airline announced it was abruptly exiting the Anguilla market. It claimed “the government of Anguilla is asking Silver to violate US law,” thanks to the demand for payment on debts that Silver says need to be settled through the court restructuring. But that was just one of the problems facing the airline.
Since the beginning of the year, operational performance had begun to trend downward with more cancellations and fewer flights arriving on-time. It has fallen off a cliff entirely in recent days.
Silver Operational Data
Data via Anuvu
What happened? Lessors want their planes back. Truenoord decided that it wanted more money from Silver to keep the three airplanes it had flying with the airline. Silver balked and parked the airplanes. Two of them were ATR-42s — N408SV and N409SV — and they were sent to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, on March 2. An ATR-72, N705SV, hasn’t left Fort Lauderdale since February 27. Presumably Truenoord had more reliable lessees ready to take on the aircraft.
But Truenoord wasn’t the only problem. Silver also had not come to an agreement with Nordic Aviation Capital (NAC), so it had to send those airplanes back as well. N403SV left the fleet in mid-January and N402SV went to Orlando on February 27 and is done with the airline.
Now down to only eight aircraft, Silver was forced to make cuts. It started by abrubtly canceling all flights to and from Orlando.
Silver’s Florida operation via Cirium
That means all flights in the Florida operation now touch either Tampa or Fort Lauderdale, when they operate. As that chart at top shows, the airline has canceled far too many of its flights and has very few actually operating on time, so even these cuts are not enough.
So what’s happening with the rest of the fleet? It’s chaos. As of March 5:
- N405SV (ATR-42) – actively flying in the Florida operation
- N406SV (ATR-42) – actively flying in the San Juan operation
- N407SV (ATR-42) – actively flying in the San Juan operation
- N700SV (ATR-72) – sitting in Tampa since March 1
- N702SV (ATR-72) – actively flying in the Florida operation
- N703SV (ATR-72) – was ferried to Orlando on March 5 and could be leaving the fleet since Silver is no longer flying to Orlando
- N706SV (ATR-72) – actively flying in the Florida operation
- N708SV (ATR-72) – sitting in Orlando since March 3 and could be leaving the fleet since Silver is no longer flying to Orlando
For those keeping score at home, that’s only five airplanes that are actively flying right now. It’s no wonder it can’t run on time. It must be pure chaos at the airline as it scrambled to run any semblance of an operation just in time for spring break to start. It looks like Fort Lauderdale – Key West has been canceled for the next week to try and lighten the load, but that is still an awful lot of flying to be done by 5 airplanes.
Whether this is a blip in the Chapter 11 process or the beginning of the end isn’t entirely clear. But what is clear is that if Silver survives, it’s going to be smaller than it was. And that’s only if it’s lucky.
37 comments on “Silver’s Plans Appear to Be Tarnished”
So is there a need to fill the void of any ot all routes vacated? And if so, by whom?
David C – Too early to know that. But I don’t imagine it’s going to be at the top of anyone’s list to fill in.
I always wondered about the demand for intra-FL flying. I lived most of my life in and around Tampa and never knew anyone to fly intra-FL. It’s a very car heavy state and cities do not have good public transit so you’ll need a car anyway when you get there. People in FL seem to have a similar mindset to people in the midwest where a 6-8 hour drive is no big deal. What’s interesting is due to Florida’s size and shape certain points are extremely far from each other but a very short flight. FLL-PNS is a 655 mile, 9-10 hour drive, TPA-EYW is 430 miles and 7.5 hours away, but Floridians just drive it. California has dozens of similar distance markets but air travel demand for intra-CA is huge. Seems like a state cultural thing
A lot of the intra-Florida flying is either for connections or for people going on cruises, where the cost of parking your car for a week or more moves the value equation if you’re single or a couple. There’s also the issue of getting around when you get where you’re going, Floridian cities aren’t known for extensive public transportation.
From Tampa, some of the intra-Florida market has dried up to some extent in the last decade or so, as Tampa-originating cruises have grown and we’ve gotten more service to Latin America (Aeromexico to MEX, Copa to PTY, with Avianca to Bogota coming at the end of this month.) Nassau will be the one market Silver currently serves from Tampa that could draw a quick new entrant.
There are still some intra-Florida markets where people will fly – for example, many people in Tampa would fly to Miami if they were visiting South Beach and intended to stay there for their entire visit or just make a few Uber-based jaunts somewhere nearby – parking in South Beach is an expensive nightmare.
Personally, I can’t imagine flying to Key West, that drive has got to be terminally dull. But people do it.
Every major airline used to fly with in Florida. Out of Key West we had American Eagle to MIA on ATRs, Delta Connection flew MCO-EYW, TPA-EYW and also to JAX, GNV, and THS. Now to get anywhere in Florida, you likely either have to go to MIA or ATL. eYW, at least, in the middle of nowhere, needs those flights. Silver took the place of Gulfstream, which had pretty robust routes. There is enough business for one airline, but not all of the 9thers.
Your statement confirms my theory. “Every major airline USED TO fly with in Florida.” I’m not pulling traffic or fare info from Diio for this right now, but it’s just my half baked theory.
The problem is most of these markets are not being flown by the right sized equipment. The ATR-42 is the better bird; I remember when American Eagle had a huge ATR-42/72 operation in MIA, and most of the routes flown by Silver with ATR-72s were flown by AA ATR-42s (just out of Miami).
MHH used to be Gulfstream/Silver’s bread & butter, until the runway got extended and a new terminal built; now there’s jet service to the main hubs from MHH and I think even GGT now. ELH gets SOME jet service, just not as much coverage.
Sadly there’s very few commuter 135s left down in Florida; Tradewind now has a base in Stuart with PC-12s, and Tropic Ocean Air has mostly seaplane Caravans. Air Gate is non-scheduled. And I think that IBC has gotten 100% out of the passenger operations, including charter.
So when Silver closes, there’s no one really to fill in the gaps. I think we MIGHT see Eagle pick up some slack, but not sure there’s a lot to take except for TPA/FLL.
I think you need to take a look at Aztec Airways out of FLL! We fly to all of the Bahamas on a great schedule – private terminal too!
Spirit could probably step in on the FLL and MCO routes that aren’t super short, other than EYW (A319s/A220s are the limit of what EYW will support). For EYW B6 could hop in to FLL and MCO, as they already have EYW service. F9 or NK could probably hop in on some of the SJU stuff.
In short, between those three nobody will notice Silver being missing for stuff that isn’t easily drivable.
MCO-FLL/MIA is most likely gonna be dominated by Brightline despite that corridor having 4 airlines (AA, DL, WN & NK) on it currently.
Great question. I think the answer for the shorter intra-Florida routes (basically those which can alternatively be driven in roughly 4 hours), I’d say “no.” And I’d say for any of the intra-FL routes to work, a reputation for operating reliably and on time must be developed, as the best-case scenario for flyers is saving maybe 3-4 hours of time flying vs driving on Silver’s longest routes when you consider door to door total travel time. It only gets tougher when you figure in that you need a car to get around pretty much anywhere in FL. TLH-FLL has been operated by various airlines over the years, and is a 7 hour drive, but it’s never been a cash cow for anyone. It mostly gets added under political pressure from FL state congressional reps in Southern FL who don’t want to drive and don’t want to go to MIA to fly American Eagle’s TLH route. PNS-MCO/TPA could probably work, but again isn’t likely to bring high fares. PNS-FLL would probably be good, but I think is outside the range of a fully loaded ATR as Silver has never done it.
The Bahamas Tourism Authority is voiced concern about the loss of seats and the corresponding impact on tourism between FL and the “out islands” (pretty much anywhere not NAS or FPO) of the Bahamas if Silver goes under or cuts routes. This could be an overture for subsidies to those routes. Also, most of BahamasAir’s fleet is comprised of ATR’s, so there may be a scenario where they take over some of Silver’s leased ATR’s and Bahamas routes.
It’s a shame Silver looks likely to be soon finished. Lots of people say that their issue is passenger preference against props. But in speaking to folks around FL about it, no one has raised that as a point of contention. It’s always been their unreliable on time performance. For a long time now, you couldn’t safely bet that flying any intra-Florida Silver route would end up being quicker than just driving. And that’s a big problem.
Why are so many people speculating about airlines rushing to backfill service of a weak market? Silver struggles to fill 40 seat aircraft even with interline agreements with almost every major airline. I can’t see other airlines rushing to fill the void. Especially the comment suggesting B6 could serve EYW-MCO/FLL since their smallest aircraft is 3x the capacity of 3M.
The Alitalia of the Caribbean!
Well said Angry Bob! Imagine all this drama from a company who’s predecessor used to CHARGE low time pilots to come to work and build time.
The missing piece here is what it owes to the airports it serves.
If it’s a pre bankruptcy debt, it isn’t the operating airline’s concern.
Interestingly, on “Passenger Facility Charges”, those wouldn’t necessarily be considered the airline’s “debt” as legally it isn’t a payment by the airline. PFC’s and their handling are laid out by federal regulation, and are not the result of a contractual obligation. They are required to be collected by the airline only for the sole purpose of remittance to the relevant airport authority, without ever becoming property of the collecting airline. The fees are required to be kept in a separate bank account so as not to be commingled with the airline’s operational funds/accounts. It boils down to an argument that Silver effectively stole/converted what was never legally Silver’s money…if that’s what happened. TLH, TPA, and EYW filed motions with the Bankruptcy court essentially laying out this argument and asking for an order to Silver to basically abide by the regs. This shows how nervous the airports are. The reality if Silver goes under, you can’t get blood from a turnip.
It is if the airport decides to terminate their operating agreement, which might very well be what MCO did. That’s what I was referring to.
Onward and Upward
This is just another example of why intra state airline service never works unless it is heavily subsidized as in eastern Montana. And that case should be looked at by the DOGE group as it appears that there is very little connectivity to the national transportation network. There has been almost no growth since the flights were begun decades ago and medical care/shopping in Billings appears to be the only reasons for any passengers on these flights. Cape Air has six aircraft “parked” in Montana while the complete network there could be covered with only three. Our taxes hard at work with lots of other similar examples in the EAS boondoggle.
None of your tax dollars are going to EAS. EAS is funded from Foreign Airline overflight fees.
Dollars are dollars. If the USA decided to dump the.EAS program, the money from foreign overflight fees could presumably be directed to some other government expense that is now covered by tax revenue.
How’s intra state airline service working in CA? TX?
I wonder how long smaller regional carriers are going to survive.
Nice title.
In the 90s, USAir was the 800 pound gorilla of intra-Florida flying. From TLH alone, they had nonstop service to PNS, JAX, TPA, MCO, PBI, FLL and MIA. They served every smaller station in Florida including PNS, VPS, ECP’s predecessor, TLH and GNV to at least 3 of the 6 major airports (TPA, MCO, RSW, PBI, FLL and MIA).
TLH is a bit of an oddball when talking about intra Florida because it’s so far removed from the south Florida population centers. Tampa and Orlando are driving no brainers but are still at least 4 hours each way leaving Fort Meyers, Naples and everything from Palm Beach to Miami as requiring flights, especially for business travelers. I grew up in Tallahassee in the 80s and 90s and my Dad criss-crossed the state as the labor and employment legal counsel for nearly all of Florida’s 67 county Sheriff’s departments. As his (unpaid) travel agent, we figured out the most efficient way to get from TLH to every county seat in Florida. During a particularly frazzled encounter in TLH, my exasperated father asked where the USAir club was. Of course the CSA replied, “I’m sorry sir but we don’t have one!” However that anecdote speaks to the level of US service in TLH at the time, that it wasn’t a completely ridiculous idea!
During that time frame, American didn’t even serve most of these smaller stations. Delta had flights from to Atlanta then later to DFW and CVG during the days of those hubs. When AA finally arrived, they added MIA service and then DFW after DL withdrew. Northwest touched most of the panhandle airports but only with service to MEM which disappeared post Delta merger.
Most notably, Continental flew from most of these cities to IAH and later to TPA and FLL, the latter two cities using Gulfstream International as Continental Connection flying mostly Beechcraft 1900s. Gulfstream International went belly up in 2010 and most of its assets became, you guessed it, Silver Airways. Silver probably should have stuck with the 19 seaters!
Thanks for that history of TLH, Bill. I’ve flown the Beech 1900’s of Gulfstream, the Mesaba Northwest (and Delta Connection for a spell) Saab 340’s (some of which I believe became Silver’s), the Silver Saab 340’s, and the the Silver ATR’s from TLH over the years.
I’m blown away thinking about that level of service at TLH by USAir in the 90’s.
Was your dad the GC for Florida Sheriff’s Association, by chance? I’ve been in-house counsel for a FL agency for a spell, may have crossed paths.
Regarding Silver, I think the Saabs may have been the sweet spot for them. My understanding is they were owned and paid for, and the operation ran pretty smoothly. With their ATR operation, on the several flights I’ve taken they’ve always been full or near it (on both the 72’s and the 42’s), but also more often than not were substantially delayed. I saw from multiple sources that Silver has complained about getting service/parts for their ATR’s in a timely manner, and that Silver even cannibalized (for parts) one of their leased ATR’s, which may have been the last straw for the lessor who started repossessing planes. Pretty sure cannibalization of a leased aircraft is a no-no.
Amazing. I grew up in Ithaca, NY in the 1980s and I remember USAir/Express service to PIT, PHL, BOS, SYR, LGA, and DCA. Don’t miss those Beech 1900s at all.
Amazing service from Ithaca, indeed. I guess this sort of thing was possible pre-deregulation. Back when half-full planes were not unusual, ticket prices were a small fortune, and you had to wear a suit and tie (or near it) to non-rev.
Re the Beech 1900’s, my pain points were how slow they are with a full load (solid 2 hours TLH-FLL wheels up to wheels down, vs 1.5 hours with the ATR and 1 hour on a jet), and no lavatory. Other than that, and I say this as an abnormally tall person, the seats were fairly comfortable, the 1-1 configuration is always nice, and being able to look straight ahead into the cockpit windshield and watch the landing was greatly appreciated. My worry with the absence of a lav wasn’t that I might need to use it, but that someone else would. I spoke with some Gulfstream gate agents back in the day, and they confirmed there are horror stories to be told on that front.
The 80s was after deregulation which occurred in 1978.
i remember visiting the Ithaca airport and seeing some of the Fokker 28s service that airport as well.
Hey Wes, he was the lead outside counsel for the FSA and the FSSIF. If you know that last acronym, you probably did know him!
Lost Opportunity :
From what I understand, the pilot’s contract with JetBlue prohibits a commuter branch.
However, a revised Silver would be a good fit with B6 with service between:
– FLL (B6 hub) and the Bahamas
– SJU (another B6 hub) and surrounding islands
– JFK & BOS (more B6 hubs) and the surrounding NE area (should B6 re-establish the NEA, AA could tag along with the new connections)
New name for Silver would be BlueXpress or JBExpress.
Considering Ms Joanna is whipping B6 into shape, I’m sure she could do the same with Silver.
On paper a B6/Silver tie up would be a no-brainer. Similar to the old PBA arrangement with TXAir where they focus on sun destination feed in the winter and northeast vacation spots in the summer. Give B6s customers a mid range option between an A320 and CapeAir C402.
Hey paper, I didn’t know that about the pilots contract. A huge missed opportunity (or multiple) because all of which you noted would seem to make perfect sense and drive feed for “mainline” B6.
I worked for Silver, and rumor is that Breeze is set to absorb them and pick up the routes, presumably with the e-190s they were trying to get rid of. A sticking point is said to be the CEO Steve Rossum, who has flown Silver into the ground. Their FLL operation has always been a mess… wh8hc would be akin to ORD being mess for United.
Not sure why they wouldn’t just assume the routes and let Silver wither on the vine. The airline’s reputation (deservedly so) has been trashed.
EYW could potentially offer them a pretty nice leisure market to and from RSW, TPA, MCO and FLL, where Breese has operations.
After the Anguilla and FLL financial debacles, it would be a fair guess to say they are behind on MCO, a driving force for them to pull out so quickly.
Suspecting now it is only a matter of time.
As the prop turns…
Nailed it. Execs still milking the PE firms into the ground. No greater fool left this time to dump another $50M in but management won’t give up the fat paychecks you can be sure. And no need for Breeze to bail them out. Let them die, take the routes and leave the years of bad service, bad fleet ideas/deals, and reputational baggage behind.