Spirit Airlines enters third consecutive day with significant disruptions

Spirit Airlines is entering a third consecutive day with more than half of its schedule upended. The low-cost carrier had canceled more than 40% of its schedule, or nearly 300 flights, as of midday Tuesday, according to the aviation tracking website FlightAware. Another 12% of its schedule was delayed, FlightAware reported. On Monday, cancellations and delays disrupted 71% of Spirit's schedule, and Sunday saw 60% of its schedule canceled or delayed, FlightAware said. The airline said it was proactively canceling flights because of "overlapping operational challenges including weather, system outages and staffing shortages in some areas." Pressure on Spirit's schedule had been building for about a week, a source familiar with the airline's operations said. Delays, including from multiple thunderstorm systems, had pushed flight crews past the number of hours they may work under federal safety rules. The scramble to find a new crew for individual flights eventually tapped out the replacement crews' hours, too. In the past few days, the issues reached a tipping point, the source said. The airline's schedulers spent Monday figuring out how to reset the system, rather than deal with day-of turmoil. The airline said it was "working around the clock" to get back on track.<br/>