By NEIL HARTNELL,

FAY SIMMONS and ANNELIA NIXON

Tribune Business Reporters

The Deputy Prime Minister yesterday downplayed Silver Airways’ demise as “a bump in the road” despite the loss of 87,000 annual seats into Abaco alone and calls for a “crisis management plan”.

Chester Cooper, also minister of tourism, investments and aviation, said the carrier’s failure was not surprising or unexpected as it had been in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US since late December 2024 and the Christmas/New Year holiday. He added that the outcome was no reflection on The Bahamas as a destination or the financial returns it offers for airlines.

Silver Airways, in a message to travellers issued late on Tuesday night, said the “airline holding company” acquiring its business out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy has elected to cease operations in The Bahamas as well as Florida and the wider Caribbean.

“We regret to inform you that we are ceasing operations as of today, June 11, 2025,” the airline said. “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 not to 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 refunded through your credit card company or your travel agency.” The sudden, immediate shutdown will likely have left tourists in The Bahamas, who were booked to return on Silver Airways, stranded in this nation at least temporarily, while Bahamians in the US who were scheduled to fly with the carrier may find themselves in a similar position.

Silver Airways had 646 employees, spread between Florida, The Bahamas and the wider Caribbean, when it entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in late 2024. Reports yesterday suggested that workforce has subsequently reduced to 348, with eight planes, and that most of these jobs will be eliminated, although efforts to find out how many posts are in The Bahamas proved fruitless.

Documents obtained by Tribune Business from the south Florida federal bankruptcy court reveal that Silver Airways owed six-figure sums to both Nassau Airport Development Company (NAD), Lynden Pindling International Airport’s (LPIA) operator, and its counterpart on Bimini.

NAD was shown to be Silver Airways’ largest Bahamian creditor, owed some $138,817 as at May 22, 2025, while another $103,213 was due to Bimini Airport Development Partners. The Airport Authority was owed $63,293 at the Family Island airports that it still controls and operates, with another $47,181 due to Nassau Flight Services for ground handling, security services and Immigration.

Silver Airways was also a major airlift provider to key Family Island destinations, especially Abaco (Marsh Harbour); North Eleuthera; Governor’s Harbour; Great Exuma; and Bimini, as well as serving Nassau and Freeport.

Kerry Fountain, the Bahama Out Island Promotion Board’s executive director, yesterday gave an insight into the airlift gap that will have to be filled by revealing that Silver Airways had itself forecast it would provide 89,000-90,000 seats into The Bahamas from December 2024 through to July this year. On an annual basis, that works out to an estimated 135,000 seats and more that now have to be filled.

Agreeing with Mr Cooper that Silver Airways’ failure was not surprising, he added that The Bahamas must focus in the immediate future on both aiding stranded tourists and Bahamians to return home as well as finding the “right partner” to replace the airlift connectivity that the carrier offered from Fort Lauderdale.

“The only thing I would like to say at this time is what’s important, because we only just found out about this late last night, is is working with all partners to put together a crisis management plan to deal with the situation today and for the next few weeks,” Mr Fountain told Tribune Business.

“Tickets have been booked, vacations planned. So how do we help both residents travelling from these islands to Fort Lauderdale and, on the flip side, assist travellers from the US? I know it will impact Abaco, particularly Marsh Harbour, Bimini, North Eleuthera and George Town. 

“How do we protect our hotels, protect those passengers and how do we, as soon as possible, identify who is the right partner to come into Fort Lauderdale and replace the Silver Airways service?” Mr Fountain said that, prior to the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing and closure of its Orlando routes earlier this year, Silver Airways was planning to provide significant airlift to The Bahamas in 2025.

“I can tell you that, when they first showed the winter schedule to us, December 2024 through July this year, they were predicting 89,000 to 90,000 seats between December to July,” he disclosed. “I share those numbers with you to point out it has to be the right partner to replace Silver with this number of seats.

“There’s a lot of work we have to do, but first things first, we go into crisis management mode and help those passengers who are basically stranded.” Family Island hoteliers said that, while Silver Airways’ failure was not unexpected and has been long-flagged, the timing could not be worse given the airlift disruption that will result during a peak time for them (see other article on Page 3B).

Mr Cooper, meanwhile, reiterated that the “beleaguered” airline’s decision to cancel flights and shut down operations had nothing to do with its operations in The Bahamas.

“Today we were awakened to the news that wasn’t particularly surprising, of the demise of Silver Airways. And the reality is that they had been a beleaguered airline for quite some time. They had been into Chapter 11 with an attempt to restructure, and they determined yesterday that attempt was not moving forward, and they advised their passengers that they would discontinue service,” said Mr Cooper.

“So this isn’t any bearing on the Bahamas directly. It’s not that they’re removing their service from The Bahamas, are pulling out of The Bahamas. They’re pulling it altogether, and hopefully they will return at some point, in some way, and return that service.”

Mr Cooper, who is currently attending a series of regional sales and marketing missions in Florida, said discussions are currently being held with other carriers such as American Airlines to adjust airlift where necessary.

“In the meantime, we’re talking with our partners about how we can bridge the gap, how we can provide additional lift to The Bahamas. American Airlines, for example, is one of our largest airline partners, providing outputs of 30 percent of traffic to the islands,” said Mr Cooper.

“They actually operate in all of the markets that Silver Airways operated in, except for Tampa. And no doubt they’re going to monitor demand and adjust where necessary to support the demand and, of course, all of the other airlines.”

Mr Cooper said Bahamasair has already been engaged to discuss providing additional routes and, over the coming days, a final decision will be made on how it will proceed.

“In addition, we have Bahamasair, and we’ve already engaged Bahamasair directly about what additional routes we might provide. We’re looking at the data. We’re going to make the assessment over the next day or two, and we’ll take some decisions as to the next steps and best interests of Bahamasair, and the best interests of Bahamas tourism,” said Mr Cooper.

“But we are looking at it actively at the moment. Over the course of the next few days, we’ll know more about what’s happening with Silver. Suffice to say, we’re assuming that they’re out of business and we’re making contingency plans.”

Mr Cooper said Silver Airways’ exit is just a “bump in the road”, and he is confident other airlines will adjust their routes to meet demand and ensure visitors can access the destination.

“All of the airlines in the room today are in the business of bringing passengers to The Bahamas. Wherever the demand presents itself, I’m certain that they will rise to the occasion,” he added. “We have a good rapport with all of our airline partners, large and small, and we anticipate that we are going to continue to adjust and pivot as the case might be to ensure that our guests get to the destinations where they need to be.

“We’re in the business of tourism. We have great partners. We’ve been doing this for 50 years, and this is a bump on the road that we are going to manage. We’re assessing the data at the moment. I’d imagine that over the course of the last several months, guests had been already alerted to some of the troubles of Silver and, no doubt, may have already been making some transitions.

“We’re assessing the data at the moment. We’re going to see where the opportunities exist. We’re going to encourage our partners to pursue those opportunities in the niches that they appear.”