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

Spirit Airlines Flights
Posted at 6:31 PM, Aug 17, 2021
and last updated 2021-08-17 18:31:11-04

Spirit Airlines is putting numbers on a damaging stretch of flight cancellations this summer.

Spirit said Monday that it canceled 2,826 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.

According to the Associated Press, Spirit said it's estimating that its third-quarter revenue will range between $885 million and $995 million due to them only providing fewer flights over the next six weeks and the cancellations.

Spirit blames the high number of canceled flights on bad weather, airport staffing shortages, and crews being stranded far from their assigned flights.

The AP reported that their expenses also climbed during the crisis, which it saw ballooned over $1 billion. The expenses they incurred were paying for people's flights on other airlines and covering their hotel bills. They also paid for employees' overtime.