CNN
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Spirit Airlines says its flight schedule could be affected for several days as it scrambles to conduct “essential inspection of a small section of 25 aircraft.”
As of 2:45 PM EDT, the ultra-low-cost carrier has canceled 98 flights, or 11% of its Friday schedule. According to flight tracking website FlightAware. The website also showed that Spirit canceled another 81 flights, or 9% of its schedule, on Saturday.
“While this action is being taken out of an abundance of caution, the impact on our network is expected to continue for several days as we complete inspections and work to return to normal operations,” Spirit said in a statement. “We apologize for the inconvenience and are working to take care of affected guests.”
Spirit did not specify what type of inspections would be conducted, although FlightAware data shows that nearly all of the cancellations are for Spirit’s Airbus A319. The airline also operates A320 and A321 aircraft.
Flights depart from airports such as Atlantic City, Hartsfield-Jackson, Nashville, Boston Logan, Baltimore/Washington, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston Bush, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Memphis, Orlando, Chicago O’Hare, Southwest Florida, and Tampa. I was impressed.
In a statement, the Federal Aviation Administration classified the inspections as a “mandatory maintenance inspection” and that the agency “will ensure that the matter is addressed before the aircraft return to service.”
CNN has reached out to Airbus for comment.