What happened to silver airways?

Posted by Patient-Frosting6620@reddit | aviation | View on Reddit | 45 comments

Im curious why silver airways couldn’t make in the Florida state? They seemed to have somewhat good routes and fuel efficient aircraft to keep cost down. Was the airline doomed since its founding in 2011 or was it abrupt post Covid?

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Aggravating-Fig2099@reddit

I flew them a bunch for work and pleasure (live in Tampa) and must be in the minority. Mostly TPA-FLL/PBI. Only ever had one delay (90 mins) from TPA-NAS on a Sat. Otherwise everything was on time or early. Flew them back in 2017 from FLL-MCO on a Saab and that was on time as well.

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discombobulated38x@reddit

They went bankrupt because they kept coming second.

Sorry.

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blueshirt21@reddit

Partially got fucked by parts. Can’t fly a plane without an engine. Source: I know it reads “my dad works at Nintendo” but my dad was an executive.

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JGisFTW@reddit

Executive for silver…? I have questions.

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theboomvang@reddit

Huh?

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Js987@reddit

I’m parsing that to mean two different problems:

1) they had issues getting parts.

2) they had issues with an Amazon cargo contract.

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blueshirt21@reddit

Yeah that

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maybearecord@reddit

Well I mean if your business model relies on getting engine parts from Amazon on same day shipping.. you're gonna have a bad time

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CT-1065@reddit

moneyn't

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ExpressLab6564@reddit

Can only assume painting the aircraft red when you're called silver aiways had lead to other questionable decisions lol

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Nexus772B@reddit

*pink

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Fenderfreak145@reddit

Fuchsia technically

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An_ocean_of_salt@reddit

I suggest you see an eye doc and soon.

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Texas_Kimchi@reddit

Silver Saab 340B's are gorgeous.

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naterthepilot2@reddit

Essential Air Service is basically the only way small air carriers like this can stay in business. The economics are brutal.

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Fun_Coyote_4288@reddit

Some of Silvers assets and personnel have been restarted as Argentum Airways in Alaska. Argentum is Silver in Latin. They have 1 ATR 42

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bterrik@reddit

Sneaky!

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Lensatic_wilkinson@reddit

They were also chronically unreliable in my experience, I imagine being a smaller company with a smaller fleet, etc. they were especially vulnerable to the butterfly effect for any delays early on the operation.

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Patient-Frosting6620@reddit (OP)

Interesting, those ATRs seem pretty new. Was it due mechanical issues or external factors? I’ve always heard the airline was notorious for delays.

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Lensatic_wilkinson@reddit

My experience their gate agents would usually say it was some sort of mechanical issue, and I could see with how small their fleet was relatively speaking that a lot of times they had no choice but to cut a flight and reassign some other inbound crew. Again, just my 2 cents from the outside looking in.

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Mastbubbles@reddit

they filed chapter 11 in december 2024, tried to restructure but couldn't make it work. stopped flying out of orlando in march 2025, then fully shut down june 2025. last flight was tampa to fort lauderdale, landed at 11:51pm. wexford capital bought the assets but didnt want to actually run an airline so that was it. 14 years, florida regional carrier, couldn't make the economics work even with short routes and small planes. the regional airline model is just brutal right now.

made a whole interactive version, if anyone wants to give it a try. about all the airlines dead, and alive.

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SummerInPhilly@reddit

How does Vieques Airlink or Cape Air make money? I can’t imagine either does

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killerrobot23@reddit

Essential Air Service contracts

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CASAdriver@reddit

They had a Panama City to Orlando route that would be nice on some go-home days. Now I gotta go through CLT to get home, if i end in/around ECP

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bad_investment_@reddit

I thought they only ran MCO to Pensacola? MCO to PCB would’ve been a game changer for me.

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Lensatic_wilkinson@reddit

They also had service between MCO-FLL

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Mastbubbles@reddit

Got this data about all the airlines dead and alive, explained everything, if you'd like to play

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zhabesha@reddit

They kept cancelling my flight at the last minute.

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SwissMargiela@reddit

I flew Silver one time to pick up a car in Jacksonville before I drove it back down to Fort Lauderdale. It was on time but I was the only passenger on the plane lmao it was trippy

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letsbuildasnowman@reddit

Sooo…you happened to them?

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euanmorse@reddit

Any of these work out favorably? A silver lining if you will?

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SummerInPhilly@reddit

The Only Nolan explained it here. I watched it a while back so I don’t really remember, though

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KAugsburger@reddit

If the video is accurate is sounds like they grew too quickly. Picking up EAS contracts that they couldn't reliably serve and eventually lost those contracts. Replacing Saab 340 aircraft with larger ATR 42 and 72s when they were struggling with a low load factor.

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SummerInPhilly@reddit

Ah yes, it’s coming back to me now. I think there was a maintenance cost or complexity issue too.

I flew on them back in 2015 or so, FLL-MCO on a Saab 340. I miss them, but I also go out of my way to fly turboprops.

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AzCu29@reddit

JSX is going to start flying the ATR42-600

https://runwaygirlnetwork.com/2026/01/atr-sees-strong-u-s-market-potential-as-jsx-showcases-atr-42-600/

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SummerInPhilly@reddit

Yup! They do SMO-LAS

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CAVU1331@reddit

There was one that parked next to me in SDL as well. Blew my mind when I saw that. Then there was an Aero G4. Apparently you can get those to Hawaii.

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ForsakenRacism@reddit

They were purchased and our operating in Alaska with 1 airplane under the brand Aleutian airways.

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shaggy1010@reddit

I flew them from fort Lauderdale to Marsh harbour about ten years ago. Only time I've ever been deplaned because one of the engines broke right before taxiing. Had to wait about four hours for another plane to be available. The actual flight was fun though, first time on a prop plane.

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