Florida-based regional airline Silver Airways, which entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy on December 30th, has abandoned Anguilla “effective immediately.” Customers with flights are on their own to find other options. And the circumstances around this decision are mysterious, with the carrier pointing fingers at Anguilla’s government.
Silver Airways claims that the Anguillans insisted that Silver Airways “violate US law” and they have to cease service because they “refused to do so.”
Silver Airways continues,
The Anguilla government was aware that US law does not allow certain payments and the Anguillans insisted that we violate US law to collect more money than they were entitled.
The first thought whenever a U.S. company says they’ve been asked to violate U.S. law in another jurisdiction is bribes (Foreign Corrupt Practices Act). However, Silver Airways is in bankruptcy so my first thought went to prioritizing debt payments outside of court approval.
Here, though, Silver claims they were being asked to collect more money than the government of Anguilla was entitled to receive. Beyond this, Silver is being coy, but my thought is that what an airline collects on behalf of the government is the $20 Anguilla departure tax and $5 security fee per passenger so it seems likely to involve these funds.
Credit: Silver Airways
Given the bankruptcy – and this is where I’m speculating – perhaps Anguilla is unwilling to trust the usual course of business for disbursement of these funds, and is perhaps insisting that it receive those monies up front or that passengers pay them in cash at the airport despite having already paid the airline.
The entire affair is highly unusual. Airlines that are continuing to operate do not usually cease a route with no advance notice whatsoever, leaving passengers stranded, and take to social media to blame a government for their decision to do so.
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