Spirit Airlines expects flight cancellations to continue



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About half of Spirit Airlines flights were canceled Thursday – and will be canceled again Friday for a fifth consecutive day – as the airline continues to cancel hundreds of flights throughout the week due to “operational challenges. And staff issues that have thrown the low cost airline out of sync.

The airline canceled 446 flights, or 56% of its flights on Thursday, according to FlightAware.

Spirit Airlines President and CEO Ted Christie said the cancellations come as the airline tries to reset after a widespread “disruption,” he said in a statement. interview with ABC News.

“When we get to that level of disruption, being able to recover takes a lot of resources, we’re not designed to deal with that level of disruption and I think there’s a learning curve there on how we might create a variability in the workforce so that we can deal with it, ”he told ABC News.

Passengers line up inside the Spirit Airlines terminal at Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles on Tuesday, August 3, 2021
Spirit Airlines canceled more than half of its program on August 5, 2021.
AP Photo / Eugène Garcia

“When we started canceling, our teams fell apart throughout the system. They were in the wrong place at the wrong time. And we had to start rebuilding this puzzle again. And unfortunately, it takes a long time for our group. So we started to cancel more and more deeply the operation to give them that time, ”continued Christie.

“The good news is that it’s finally starting to pay off. We are starting to turn the tide here and restart our operation, there will still be cancellations over the next few days, but we can start to rebuild the entire operation and then from the take out that we get from the latter the week.”

Spirit Airlines planes
Spirit Airlines is expected to cancel flights for the fifth day in a row.
Brandon Bell / Getty Images

Airlines have struggled to maintain their workforce after COVID-19 decimated profits – even as airlines received federal funding on condition they avoid layoffs.

American Airlines appeared to be on the right track after also experiencing staffing issues and other delay issues earlier this week, having canceled just 1% of its flights on Thursday, according to FlightAware.

Frustrated Spirit Airlines passengers at New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport on August 3, 2021.
Frustrated Spirit Airlines passengers at New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport on August 3, 2021.
Paul Martinka



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