Silver Airways and Seaborne Airlines’ principals will continue managing the company through next week, after a Florida bankruptcy judge decided to delay the effectiveness of an earlier order until a Chapter 11 trustee can be appointed.
Judge Peter Russin’s decision came two days after he ordered the U.S. Trustee Program to appoint someone to oversee the bankruptcy estates of Silver Airways and Seaborne Airlines. During a hearing Tuesday, Russin reportedly lambasted Silver executives Steven Rossum and Pedro Motta for failing to vet a potential bidder. On Thursday, Russin said during a status conference that he was shocked that a trustee still hadn’t been appointed, given the urgency.
Attorney John Schank, representing the U.S. Trustee Program, said there should be a notice of appointment by Monday.
“By then, I mean, there’s nothing left,” Russin said. “I mean, I understand the debtor has to continue operating, but there can’t be a circumstance in which the court … requires the appointment of a trustee, where there’s urgency involved in an operating business with a sale hanging in the balance, and we have to go days and days to wait for the appointment.”
Schank said he had spoken with the debtors’ attorney, Brian Hall, who confirmed that the airlines’ current managers will be able to continue operating through next week and make payroll. Hall said the debtors were “in a bit of a spot.”
“We’re not supposed to be the ones conducting an auction and finishing the sale off, but it does have to happen next week,” he said.
Later, Rossum said the airlines’ managers can continue to act as fiduciaries until a trustee is appointed.
“I think Mr. Motta and I have been unjustly vilified in a lot of what matters in this case … but I think management of Silver and management of Seaborne have acted professionally — in the best interest of the estate, in the best interest of its employees — for years, and that has not stopped,” he said, adding that they have continued working with prospective bidders.
