Over an 11 day stretch at the beginning of the month, Spirit Airlines canceled 2,800 flights that left passengers scrambling at the last minute to get to their destinations. Now, the airline is reporting that it lost $50 million from those canceled flights.
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The airline credited the high number of cancelations to a rise in COVID-19 cases causing last-minute cancellations and softer bookings from customers, the Star Tribune reported.
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Spirit will now make what they are calling "tactical schedule reductions" for the remainder of the quarter, ending on Sept. 30.
This means that with Spirit having fewer flights for the next six weeks, the airline will bring in 4% to 11% less in third-quarter revenue compared to 2019. This will range from $885 million to $955 million.
When cancellations reached high numbers, Spirit said it paid for stranded passengers to get to their destinations on other airlines and even covered their hotel stays. This was only some of the expenses that the airline said it has had following the crisis.
In its third quarter, operating expenses for the airline will be slightly over $1 billion, 20% more than the airline's 2019 third quarter.
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From July 30 to Aug. 9, Spirit said it canceled 2,826 flights; somedays cancelations amounted to more than 60% of the airline's schedule.
Bad weather, airport staffing shortages, and crews being stranded far from their assigned flights all played a part in the cancelations.
The CEO of Spirit Airlines, Ted Christie, apologized for the disruptions that affected tens of thousands of customers across the nation. Christie shared that the cancelations were out of character for the airline.
"We believe the interruption was a singular event driven by an unprecedented confluence of factors and does not reflect systemic issues," Christie said, the Tribune reported.
Christie went on to share that the airline is working "to be one of the most efficient and reliable airlines in the U.S. industry" and is taking steps "to make sure we maintain that standard."
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