Florida’s Silver Airways to enter freighter market in 3Q21

Silver Airways (3M, Fort Lauderdale Int’l) is set to add its first dedicated freighters, Avions de Transport Régional turboprops of the -500 variant, Cargo Facts has reported citing a job advertisement posted by the carrier.

The airline began recruiting staff for its future cargo operations earlier this year. It intends to base the freighters out of Fort Worth Alliance airport with a tentative September 2021 start on the cards.

By basing the freighters out of Texas, Silver Airways will significantly expand the geography of its operations. The Florida-based carrier currently operates scheduled passenger services throughout the south-eastern United States to neighbouring Caribbean islands, as well as out of San Juan Luis Muñoz Marin to nearby island territories (some of which are operated by its Seaborne Virgin Islands sister).

The airline did not reveal the specific type it was looking at. However, there are no existing freighter conversions of the ATR42-500 type, while twenty-three ATR72-500(F)s are operated by 12 carriers around the world. The ch-aviation fleets advanced module shows the largest operator of the type is Poland’s SprintAir with four units.

Silver Airways’ fleet comprises six ATR42-600s (nine more on order), three ATR72-600s (one on order), and five S340B(Plus)s.