Majority of Spirit flights canceled Monday at Westmoreland, Pittsburgh airports

Numerous Spirit Airlines flights at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport and Pittsburgh International Airport were canceled Monday, mirroring problems at other airports the low-cost carrier serves.

The Florida-based airline issued a statement indicating the problem was triggered by a series of “weather and operational challenges” over the weekend. It said rumors that pilots are striking are not true.

“We needed to make proactive cancellations to some flights across the network, but the majority of flights are still scheduled as planned,” Spirit spokesperson Field Sutton said.

He said the airline is “working around the clock to get back on track” and suggested that passengers check their flight status before heading to the airport.

“There were intermittent problems over the weekend, and it came to a head today,” said Gabe Monzo, executive director of the Westmoreland County Airport Authority, which operates the Arnold Palmer airport. He acknowledged the situation was frustrating for passengers and said Spirit, the sole commercial carrier for the airport in Unity, had not advised the authority of any specific cause for the flight disruptions.

According to Spirit’s website, Sunday flights bound from Arnold Palmer to Orlando and Myrtle Beach were canceled, while a flight that day to Fort Lauderdale arrived a few minutes early.

On Monday, flights from the Unity airport to Fort Lauderdale and Orlando were canceled while two flights to Myrtle Beach initially were delayed by more than an hour.

As of 3 p.m. Monday, Spirit had canceled seven departing flights and six arrivals out of a combined total of 17 that had been scheduled for the day at Pittsburgh International, according to Allegheny County Airport Authority spokesman Bob Kerlik.

According to tracking service Flightaware.com, 227 Spirit flights were canceled Monday and 58 flights were delayed.

News outlets reported that hundreds of people were left waiting at Orlando International Airport after Spirit canceled dozens of flights.

Reports from Myrtle Beach International Airport indicated hundreds of passengers were affected by canceled flights, with some passengers saying they had been stranded there since Sunday afternoon and had slept at the terminal.