ALEXANDRIA, Va., Jan 19, 2026, 17:59 EST
Tailwind Air, a U.S. seaplane and charter operator known for a short-lived Manhattan-to-Boston shuttle, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Virginia, court records show. Two affiliated companies, Tailwind Air, LLC and Tailwind Air Service, LLC, reported estimated assets of $0 to $50,000 and liabilities of about $1 million to $10 million, and said they had 50 to 99 creditors. (PacerMonitor)
Chapter 11 is a U.S. bankruptcy process that can let a company keep operating while it tries to restructure under court supervision. For small operators with thin margins, it often becomes a hard test of whether lenders and vendors will keep supporting the business, or whether it ends in a sale.
The filing lands after Tailwind had already pulled back from scheduled service, highlighting how quickly niche “downtown-to-downtown” flying can hit a wall when demand does not hold. AeroTime reported in 2024 that traffic levels on Tailwind’s New York-to-Boston route did not make the operation profitable and that the company was looking for investors to recapitalize the business. (AeroTime)
The petitions were filed on Jan. 15 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria, according to court docket summaries. The Tailwind Air, LLC case was assigned to Judge Klinette H. Kindred and the Tailwind Air Service, LLC case to Chief Judge Brian F. Kenney. (Inforuptcy)
At launch, CEO Alan Ram pitched Tailwind’s seaplane shuttle as a time-saver that avoided airport bottlenecks: “Our service combines the accessibility of the train with the speed of a flight,” he said in a 2021 press release. The release said Tailwind sold tickets through a codeshare, an arrangement where one carrier markets seats on another’s flights, with Southern Airways. (PR Newswire)
World Airline News reported in 2024 that Tailwind had shut down its unprofitable scheduled seaplane operation after it “did not have enough passengers” and that an investor deal fell through. The site said the company continued operating charter flights. (World Airline News)
But Chapter 11 does not guarantee a comeback. If the company cannot secure financing or a buyer quickly, the cases can tip into liquidation, leaving creditors to fight over a small pool of assets.
BankruptcyObserver’s case pages for Tailwind Air and Tailwind Air Service show the initial petitions and related filing-fee receipts and were updated on Monday. (Bankruptcyobserver)
