A Spirit Airlines plane taxis to a runway at Orlando International Airport Thursday, June 1, 2023, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux, File)
Spirit Airlines canceled about 100 flights on Friday after pulling some planes out of service for inspections, and the airline expects the disruptions to last several days.
Spirit did not describe the nature of the inspections and did not respond when asked for further information.
By Friday afternoon, Spirit had canceled 11% of its schedule for the day, easily the highest percentage of scrubbed flights among leading U.S. carriers, according to tracking service FlightAware.
“We’ve cancelled a portion of our scheduled flights to perform a necessary inspection of a small section of 25 of our aircraft,” Spirit said in a statement. “The impact to our network is expected to last several days as we complete the inspections and work to return to normal operations.”
The Federal Aviation Administration said it was aware of Spirit's decision to pull the planes from service for a “mandatory maintenance inspection." The FAA did not describe the inspections either, but said it "will ensure that the matter is addressed before the airplanes are returned to service.”
Spirit had 198 planes as of June 30, all of them variants of the Airbus A320 family, according to a company regulatory filing.
The airline told customers to check the status of their flight before going to the airport.
About half of the Spirit cancellations were at Florida’s Orlando International Airport, where Spirit is the second-largest carrier.
Spirit, which is based in Miramar, Florida, has canceled more than 3,600 flights this year, or 1.5% of its schedule. That is lower than the 2% cancellation rate at Frontier Airlines, a similar budget carrier, and rates for JetBlue Airways and United Airlines.
Pharmaceutical and health care giant Johnson & Johnson announced that it will split into two separate companies, setting aside the consumer division that sells Band-Aids, baby powder, and other products to stand alone.
The parent company of North Face, Vans and Supreme, VF Corp, released its fourth annual "Made for Change" sustainability and responsibility report. It details the company's ongoing efforts to tackle social and climate related issues. This comes as climate experts continue to warn about the dangers of fast fashion and its impact on global CO2 emissions. Sean Cady, Vice President of Global Sustainability, Responsibility and Trade at VF Corporation, joins Cheddar News to discuss.
A jam-packed Freitag pod with Carlo and Baker: new Covid hotspots, Kyle Rittenhouse trial, Belarus making trouble for Europe, red-hot housing market, and how to manage a PR crisis the right way.
This week's inflation data showed that consumers are not imagining higher prices at the register - prices jumped 6.2% in October, the biggest inflation surge in 30 years. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq felt the impact of that data, but today recovered after a sell-off. Sean O'Hara, President at Pacer ETFs, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss today's market close amid this week's hot inflation data, and third-quarter earnings season.
Self-driving truck startup Kodiak Robotics recently announced a $125 million funding round as the trucking industry is facing major challenges, including growing shipping demand and driver shortages. Kodiak says its autonomous technology can help businesses move goods faster, safer, cleaner, and more efficiently. Kodiak Robotics founder and CEO Don Burnette joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Francisco Marte, Founder of the Bodega and Small Business Association, joined Cheddar to discuss the recent boom in ultrafast delivery services and what it means to bodegas and mom & pop shops in New York City.
Damian Mason, a farm owner, Agricultural Economist and Author of 'Food Fear,' joined Cheddar to discuss the rising prices of food as we approach the holiday season.
