Flight cancellations continue for Spirit Airlines

Spirit Airlines’ flight cancellations continued Wednesday and Thursday for passengers planning to fly out of or into Arnold Palmer Regional and Pittsburgh International airports.

Four arrivals and three departures were canceled at the Unity airport Wednesday and an additional five flights were canceled Thursday. Eleven Spirit flights were canceled each on Wednesday and Thursday at Pittsburgh International.

Spirit Airlines canceled 60% of its flights Wednesday and 46% Thursday, according to aviation tracking website FlightAware.

It’s been an issue for the airline since the weekend. A spokesman said Spirit is making “proactive cancellations” of some flights as a result of weather, system outages and staffing shortages. There has been no target date released as to when the issues might be resolved.

The airline is focusing the cancellations in areas where travelers have other flight options, according to a spokesman. Spirit Airlines is the sole carrier at Arnold Palmer near Latrobe, 63 driving miles from Pittsburgh International Airport.

Air travel hit a high point Sunday with more than 2.2 million people going through airport checkpoints, according to the Transportation Security Administration. While it is the highest number since February 2020, it is still down from 2019 numbers.

Spirit Airlines asks that travelers check their flight status before heading to the airport.

The issues have stranded travelers around the country or disrupted their travel plans. Flights between Fort Lauderdale, Orlando and Myrtle Beach and the Unity airport were canceled.

Planes headed to or from similar destinations were canceled at Pittsburgh International, but a few took off or landed as scheduled.