Spirit Airlines plans to eliminate daily flights from Arnold Palmer Regional Airport to Orlando in August and September, the Florida-based airline said Monday.
Spirit will fly only four days a week — Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday — from the Unity airport to the Orlando MCO airport during those two months, but daily flights will resume in October, said Thomas Fletcher, a Spirit Airlines spokesman.
Spirit is cutting back on daily flights as it manages “constraints related to GTF engine availability,” Fletcher said. That Pratt & Whitney engine has been the subject of inspections since the manufacturer notified the airline industry in July 2023 that there were problems with the engine’s powdered metal composition. Pratt & Whitney said about 1,200 Airbus jets with that engine would need about two months for an inspection and repairs.
The Federal Aviation Administration issued a ruling in April that if the engine problems were not resolved, it could lead to an engine failure. About 425 jets in the U.S. would be affected by the order for additional inspections of the turbofan engine, the FAA said.
Spirit Airlines had announced in October 2021 it selected Pratt & Whitney’s GTF engine — which the company touted for its fuel efficiency — for its next order of 100 Airbus A320 aircraft and had an option to have those engines installed on 50 more planes it orders. Those planes were to be delivered last year.
While cutting back on service to Orlando, Spirit will increase the frequency of its seasonal flights from Arnold Palmer Regional to Myrtle Beach, S.C. Spirit will go from a single daily flight to Myrtle Beach seven days a week, to twice daily for five days a week, beginning in September, said Gabe Monzo, executive director of the Westmoreland County Airport Authority.
Spirit Airlines has not yet set a date for a meeting this summer with airport authority officials, Monzo said Monday. Monzo told the authority last month that a meeting would occur in late summer.
