US regional carrier Silver Airways could lose its lease at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International airport for failing to pay rent and late fees for at least a year beginning in 2021. The airline is based in Fort Lauderdale, operating a fleet of ATR-600 turboprops for passenger service and hauling freight. The Broward County board of commissioners will consider whether to terminate Silver’s lease at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International airport during its regular meeting on 18 April. The panel has been provided with several default notices detailing the county’s efforts to recoup a sum from Silver that at one point exceeded $1 million. It is unclear how much the carrier currently owes the county in unpaid fees for its terminal operations at Fort Lauderdale. Silver’s chief executive, Steve Rossum, told local media that his airline is still negotiating its lease with county officials. Broward County acknowledged receiving a payment proposal from Silver on 11 November 2022 but said “Silver Airways’ proposal is unacceptable” and “nearly identical to one submitted exactly one year ago”. “If Silver Airways had acted on that 2021 proposal, the severity of today’s situation would be materially different,” the county says. The county says that Silver Airways entered a lease and use agreement (LUA) and a terminal building lease agreement (TBLA) on 13 January 2015 to operate at Fort Lauderdale International. “Silver has failed to meet its obligations under the agreement and TBLA,” Mark Gale, the county’s director of aviation, said in a 3 January 2022 letter to Silver. The airline owed Broward County a little more than $1m in delinquent rental fees at the time. The county said it made several attempts to negotiate a payment plan, but Silver repeatedly did not “honour its obligations to the county”. <br/>
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The CEO of WestJet Airlines says his company is asking the federal government to allow airlines to recover passenger compensation costs from other industry partners, if they played a role in causing flight delays or disruptions. Under the current air passenger bill of rights framework, airlines are the only party required to compensate travellers for unnecessary flight cancellations or disruptions. But WestJet CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech says airlines aren't at fault if a passenger's flight is held up by a backlog at customs or a breakdown of baggage handling equipment at an airport. He says compensating passengers every time something goes wrong is costly for airlines and in the long-term will cause airfares to rise. He says WestJet is asking the government to provide a mechanism for airlines to recover some of these costs from third parties who may be partly liable for disruptions. The federal government has committed to making changes to this country's airline passenger bill of rights in the wake of major travel disruptions last summer and again over the Christmas holidays.<br/>
Gulf Air, the national carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain, has announced additional frequencies to and from several touristic destinations on its network, starting May. The added frequencies include the Thai capital of Bangkok, the city of Manchester in the UK, and the city of Manila in the Philippines. The airline’s expansion plans will see flights to Bangkok increasing to 10 weekly flights (7 direct flights, and 3 flights via Singapore), while Manchester frequency will increase to 4 weekly flights, and Manila frequency will increase to 9 weekly flights. With this expansion plan, the national carrier aims at adding to the convenience of travel to and from these destinations in response to the growing passenger demand, weather for direct travel or connectivity across Gulf Air’s global network. <br/>