Spirit Airlines cancels half of all flights amid ongoing system, staff troubles

Aug. 5 (UPI) -- For the fifth day in a row, Spirit Airlines on Thursday canceled hundreds of flights due to a variety of problems facing the budget carrier.

Spirit has experienced the disruptions since last weekend. The company has said the problems include bad weather, staffing shortages and technology issues.

Thursday, the airline canceled about 400 flights -- which account for half of its daily schedule, according to FlightAware.com.

Wednesday, Spirit canceled nearly 430 flights, or 60% of its schedule. Since last weekend, about 1,700 have been removed from the schedule.

A return to travel for passengers in recent months, after low demand during the COVID-19 pandemic, has complicated Spirit's problems.

"We've implemented a more thorough reboot of the network, allowing us to reassign our crews more efficiently and restore the network faster," Spirit said in a statement Wednesday, according to CNBC.

About 80% of all flight cancellations in the United States on Thursday belonged to Florida-based Spirit.

American Airlines has also canceled and delayed hundreds of flights this week.

The ultra low cost carrier serves dozens of cities in the United States, Central America and the Caribbean.