Southern Airways Express (9X, Memphis International) has announced on Thursday, March 3 that it has entered into an agreement to acquire fellow regional carrier Sun Air Express (Fort Lauderdale International).

Sun Air Express currently operates essential air service (EAS) routes from Pittsburgh International to Altoona, Bradford, Franklin Venango Regional, Hagerstown, Jamestown Chautauqua County and Lancaster, PA as well as from Washington Dulles to Hagerstown and Lancaster using its fleet of Piper (twin piston) Chieftains and Cessna (single turboprop) Caravans wet-leased from Mokulele Airlines (MHO, Kona). Meanwhile, Southern Airways Express operates a fleet of Caravans itself on scheduled services linking its Memphis base with Atlanta Dekalb-Peachtree, Destin Executive and Madison, MS. It also operates between Destin and Madison.

As part of the agreement, Southern plans to replace Sun Air Express' Piper fleet with Cessna Caravans to have a single aircraft type in the fleet. Southern's co-founder and chief commercial officer Keith Sisson will relocate to Pittsburgh as part of the acquisition while most of Sun Air Express' administration will be moved from Fort Lauderdale to Memphis although Southern has said it will keep some operational aspects of the airline based in Florida and Chicago.