Sky Bahamas (Nassau International) has so far incurred costs of USD4.2 million as it continues to fight Bahamian regulators over the rejection of its Air Operator's Certificate (AOC) in July, Randy Butler, the carrier's chief executive, told the newspaper The Tribune in an interview published on October 1.

“So far we're north of USD4.2 million and the costs have not stopped. It's continuing,” Butler said.

Admitting that Sky Bahamas now effectively exists only on paper, he said: “We're still a legitimate company, but our AOC has not been renewed. Essentially what I can say to you is, everyone's gone home. There's no more work. There's no more flights. We've not operated since July 8. I've spent about USD200,000 paying bills and reimbursing people at Sky Bahamas.”

Butler said he may start an appeals process in an attempt to overturn the decision of the Bahamas Civil Aviation Authority (BCAA) not to renew the AOC. The BCAA said it had made the decision because Sky Bahamas was “not properly or adequately equipped or able to conduct safe operations in commercial air transport.”

Charles Beneby, the authority's director-general, issued a notice on September 19 giving the airline 14 days to appeal. Butler told the newspaper that he may also resort to legal action.

Butler has argued that the situation is a "personal and political" attack against him, revealing in July that the BCAA had also failed to renew the AOC for Butler's Aviation (BUT), a charter company he owns and operates. Documents seen by The Tribune at the time showed that the AOC for Butler's Aviation was renewed for three months in February 2019 instead of the 12-month period usually given to airlines. The charter carrier now also continues to wait for an AOC.

Butler said that Sky Bahamas' remaining aircraft, which are all leased, were "still there but the owners are ready for them". Lease termination notices have not yet been received, he said but added that the owners would only wait so long if the airline was not operational.

Sky Bahamas used an all-Saab (Sweden) fleet of two Saab 340As and one Saab 340B. However, only C6-SPD (msn 340A-021) and C6-SBK (msn 340B-196) were active until July 8. All three, including the third aircraft C6-SBG (msn 340A-110), are currently stored in the Bahamas, according to ch-aviation fleets.