- A number of regional airlines have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2025.
- Charter airline Kachina Air filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy on October 24.
- Fuel and aviation costs have been blamed.
This has not been the best year to be in the airline industry. In September, two Scandinavian airlines — Play and Braathens Aviation — had to shut down operations within a few days of each other over similar problems of mounting debt and inability to bring in the traffic necessary to make a dent in it.
Ravn Alaska, Air Belgium, and SKS Airways in Malaysia are some of the other airline names that filed for bankruptcy in the first half of 2025 while Florida-based charter carrier Verijet followed its European competitors with a Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing at the Southern District of Florida bankruptcy court earlier this month.
While a granted Chapter 11 buys the filers to find new funding sources or otherwise restructure, Chapter 7 takes the company straight into liquidation.
Charter airline Kachina Air files for bankruptcy in Texas court
Amid a period of very rapid growth and expansion to international destinations in the Caribbean, Verijet racked up over $38.7 million in debts to customers and businesses leasing its jets while also facing multiple lawsuits over flights it accepted money for but did not run.
Less than two weeks after its Florida competitor, Texas-based operator Kachina Air became the latest charter airline to file for bankruptcy with a voluntary petition for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Texas Southern Bankruptcy Court.
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The company is also registered under the name Gai Air LLC and has a small fleet of two PA-31-350 Chieftain planes with seven seats; this type of aircraft is frequently used as feeder planes for cargo and regional flights between nearby cities. They also have a range of no more than 900 nautical miles.
The bankruptcy petition was filed on Oct. 24 while judge Christopher M. Lopez has been assigned to oversee the case. The company is registered as established in 2020 in Conroe, Texas while the bankruptcy hearing is expected to take place in the coming weeks.
Kachina Air Chapter 11 bankruptcy
- iling date: October 24, 2025: filed a voluntary petition for bankruptcy.
- Chapter: Chapter 11 (reorganization).
- Court: U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas.
- Case number: 25-90527.
- Nature of business: Aviation / charter / other aviation services.
- Status (public): Case recently filed; reorganization process is ongoing as of filing.
Source: Pacermonitor
Wikimedia
“Significantly cheaper than most charters and based in north Houston”
An old social media post promotes the company as flying “Piper Navajos that are significantly cheaper than most charters and based in north Houston.” A website linked to the airline has been taken down while few other details around the bankruptcy or which creditors or clients may be affected have been made publicly available; there are currently also no reports of any canceled service.
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In the case of competitors like Verijet and Ravn Alaska, the high cost of fuel and general operations relative to the profit that could be brought in even with wealthy clients or government contracts ultimately became unsustainable.
In September, other regional carrier Air Wisconsin pulled out of plans to launch service to Charlotte from Mid-Ohio Valley Regional Airport on the West Virginia border despite securing an Essential Air Services (EAS) contract from the federal government.
The federal program subsidizes service between communities that rely on it but would otherwise not bring in the passenger numbers that would make it profitable from a business standpoint. In the regulatory filing, Air Wisconsin called the choice to cancel the contract as a “strategic decision.”
Airlines that filed for bankruptcy in 2025
- Spirit Airlines (Spirit Aviation Holdings, Inc.): Filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on August 29, 2025.
- Verijet: Filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in October 2025, cancelled all flights and ceased operations.
- Corporate Air: Filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy (restructuring) in September 2025 as part of a planned sale.
- Silver Airways: Filed for Chapter 11 (initially in December 2024) and then ceased operations entirely in June 2025.
- Kachina Air, Inc. — filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on October 24, 2025.
Source: Pacermonitor - Ravn Alaska — ceased operations in August 2025 after earlier Chapter 11 proceedings; shut down flights and folded into other operations.
Source: Must Read Alaska
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