Spirit Air says canceled flights cost $50M, hurt bookings

By DAVID KOENIG
AP Airlines Writer

Spirit Airlines is putting numbers on a damaging stretch of flight cancellations this summer. Spirit said Monday that it canceled more than 2,800 flights from July 30 to Aug. 9, costing the airline $50 million in lost revenue. Spirit says the meltdown, along with a surge in COVID-19 cases, is causing more last-minute cancellations and softer bookings. As a result, Spirit says it will reduce its schedule for the rest of the third quarter, which ends Sept. 30. Spirit blames the high number of canceled flights on bad weather, airport staffing shortages, and crews being stranded far from their assigned flights.