FORT LAUDERDALE-HOLLYWOOD INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, FLA. (WSVN) - An employee for Silver Airways is frustrated and struggling to recover after finding out he lost his job when the airline he worked for abruptly ceased operations.
Silver Airways, a Broward-based airline company, shut down all operations on Wednesday, according to officials, resulting in over 500 employees losing their jobs overnight.
7News on Friday spoke with Irving Pena, one of those employees who lost their job. He said the CEO notified employees by email in the middle of the night.
One of his now former co-workers alerted him to the late night email.
“‘Check your email, don’t bother coming into work tomorrow because I think they just laid everybody off,'” said Pena.
The sudden shutdown of the airline company has left Pena reeling and without a job.
“I couldn’t really sleep at night. I was stressing over, ‘I have to find a job, I have to find a way to make ends meet,'” said Pena.
To make matters worse, Pena, who worked as a ramp agent, said most employees haven’t received their last full paycheck.
“I know people that worked 90 hours, 100 hours, and also got, like, around 45% of that check,” said Pena.
Passengers who had arrived for their flights Wednesday were surprised to find empty check-in counters, boards listing canceled flights, and planes left sitting on the tarmac at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
“If they gave us a little more heads up, we could’ve made other arrangements,” said Clem Kasinskas, who had a business trip scheduled to head to Tampa.
The company has been in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy process since late 2024. Over the past few months, they have reportedly been riddled with issues such as cancellations.
The company released a statement on social media, stating in part:
“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 to not continue Silver’s flight operations in Florida, the Bahamas and the Caribbean.”
Pena said he believes he’s luckier than most others, but the unexpected shutdown has still left him in a tight spot.
“Just try to find a job as quickly as possible, that’s my current plan. If I could get a job in the airline industry, that’s better. But if I can’t, any job is acceptable for right now until I find something,” he said.
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