CNN
CNN
—
Spirit Airlines faces potential disruption to its flight schedule for an extended duration as it performs “necessary inspections on a small section of 25 of our aircraft.”
As of 2:45 p.m. EDT, the ultra-low-cost carrier has already canceled 98 flights, which accounts for 11% of its Friday schedule, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking site. Additionally, FlightAware data shows that Spirit has canceled another 81 flights, or 9% of its schedule, for Saturday.
In a statement, Spirit said, “While this action is being taken out of an abundance of caution, we expect the impact on our network to last for several days as we complete the inspections and work towards resuming normal operations. We apologize for any inconvenience caused and are committed to assisting affected guests.”
Although the exact nature of the inspections has not been disclosed by Spirit, FlightAware data indicates that most of the cancellations involve Spirit’s Airbus A319 aircraft. The airline also operates A320s and A321s.
The flight disruptions have affected departures from various airports such as Atlantic City, Hartsfield-Jackson, Nashville, Boston Logan, Baltimore/Washington, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston Bush, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Memphis, Orlando, Chicago O’Hare, Southwest Florida, and Tampa.
The Federal Aviation Administration has classified these checks as “mandatory maintenance inspections” and has confirmed that the matter will be addressed before the planes are cleared for service.
CNN has contacted Airbus for a response regarding this issue.
