Silver Airways Faces Eviction at Fort Lauderdale

DALLAS – Regional carrier Silver Airways (3M) is being threatened with eviction from its passenger facilities at its Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International (FLL) hub.

The facility owners, Broward County, are due to meet on April 18 and will vote on whether to end the regional airline's lease agreement due to non-payment of fees dating back to 2021.

Silver operates the French-built ATR42 & ATR72 turboprop aircraft for scheduled flights throughout the Caribbean, but also domestically as far north as South Carolina and Louisiana from their south Florida hubs. Once the only apple in ATR's eye as they tried to infiltrate the regional jet-dominated market, it looks like 3M is playing bill catch-up post-Covid.

According to reports, Broward County issued default notices to 3M in January 2022, before rescinding it after seemingly constructive discussions with the airline's financial controller. But when a promised payment plan failed to materialize later that year, the owners of FLL Terminal C decided enough was enough.

It was also reported in 2022 that the regional airline had similar problems in the Virgin Islands, reportedly having to enter a 12-month repayment plan with the Virgin Islands Port Authority (VIPA) for similar charges.

Seaborne Airlines

Silver Airways, through its owners Versa Capital Partners, acquired Seaborne Airlines (Puerto Rico) in 2018 just prior to the Covid pandemic, and were well advanced in their plans to restart deliveries of new ATR72-600s post covid. In 2022 they had raised funding of US$50m through the issuance of senior secured convertible notes to fund its growth and had struck a deal with pilot unions.

The airline had also received assistance through the COVID Airline CARES Act, a federal law passed by the US Congress in March 2020 in response to the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. They also negotiated a reduction in some of their service route obligations, under state and federal programs, designed to provide air service to small communities. Similar to many other legacy and new airlines.

Under new CEO Steve Rossum, Silver had looked like it had navigated the stormy Covid seas to emerge stronger and leaner. Hopefully, this is still the case, no doubt being closely watched by codeshare and interline partners such as United Airlines (UA), American Airlines (AA), Delta Air Lines (DL), and Emirates (EK) to name just a few.

Let’s hope they do – the ATR is an environmentally friendly passenger transport aircraft compared to the regional jets that make up the majority of competitors' fleets.

Featured image: Alberto Cucini/Airways