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| Founded | 1988 | |||
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| Hubs | Billings Logan International Airport[1][2] Cleveland Hopkins International Airport |
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| Fleet size | 23 | |||
| Destinations | 30 | |||
| Parent company | VPAA Co. | |||
| Headquarters | Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport Broward County, Florida, U.S. |
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| Key people | Darrell Richardson (Chief Executive Officer) | |||
| Website | gulfstreamair.com | |||
Gulfstream International Group, Inc.,[3] operating as Gulfstream International Airlines (GIA), is a United States airline with its headquarters on the property of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in unincorporated Broward County, Florida, near Fort Lauderdale.
It operates scheduled and charter services to Florida and Bahamas and the Caribbean. It operates as a United Express carrier for United Airlines. Gulfstream International Airlines flies to 7 destinations in Florida, 8 destinations in the Bahamas, 8 destinations in Montana, and 7 destinations in the northeast (Cleveland). Its main base is Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, with hubs at Tampa International Airport, Billings Logan International Airport and Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.[4] Silver Airways Corp. is now operating with the former Gulfstream International assets.[5]
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The airline was established in October 1988 and started operations on December 1, 1990. It was founded by Thomas L. Cooper, a former Boeing 727 captain for Eastern Air Lines during the pilots' strike in 1989. Initially it operated as an on-demand air taxi between Miami, Florida and Cap-Haïtien, Haiti, but was relocated to the Bahamas, when the political climate in Haiti forced the operation to halt. The airline also flew diplomatic mail to the U.S. Interest in Havana on a weekly basis. In May 1994, a codeshare agreement was signed with United Airlines. In December 1995 Gulfstream began the transition from a FAR 135 carrier to FAR 121, allowing operation of larger aircraft such as leased Short 360s. Its parent company, G-Air Holdings, acquired Paradise International Airlines in August 1998 and continued to operate its de Havilland Canada Dash 7s. In August 2003, Paradise Island Airlines was sold to US Airways. In 2004, a long-term codeshare agreement with Continental Airlines was signed. Thomas L. Cooper sold his stake in the company to Gulfstream International Group, Inc., a Delaware corporation in March 2006. Gulfstream has approximately 600 employees as of April 2009.
In 2009, Gulfstream International Airlines came under additional scrutiny due to three fatal crashes that all involved pilots that were trained at the Gulfstream Training Academy (its sister company[6]), the last one in February 2009, where 50 died on Colgan Air Flight 3407 near Buffalo, NY.[7]
In May 2009, the federal government issued a fine of $1.3 million against Gulfstream International Airlines after the Federal Aviation Administration found that it had falsified flight time records, allowing crews to fly longer hours than allowed by law, and providing below standard aircraft maintenance.[6] In response, CEO Dave Hackett stated that "the airline does not have safety violations"[8][9] and "the vast majority of findings were not violations at all".[10]
On November 4, 2010, Gulfstream International Airlines, Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.[11] In May 2011 Victory Park Capital (“Victory Park”) acquired Gulfstream International Airlines when it bought the assets of Gulfstream International Group. Victory Park also purchased 21 of Gulfstream’s Beechcraft 1900D aircraft from Raytheon Aircraft Credit Corporation.[12]
On December 15, 2011, the airline was rebranded as Silver Airways [13]
The airline headquarters are located in Suite 201 of the on the property of the 1100 Lee Wagener Boulevard building on the property of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in unincorporated Broward County, Florida,[14][15][5] near Fort Lauderdale.
Previously its headquarters were in Dania Beach, Florida,[16][17] also near Fort Lauderdale.[18]
Bahamas
Gulfstream also operates public bonded charter flights that are not under the Continental Connection code.
The Gulfstream International Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft (at March 2009)[4]:
Gulfstream International Airlines has codeshare agreements with the following airlines[19]:
The Codeshare with Northwest Airlines has expired on June 15, 2009 due to the merger between Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines.
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