Spirit Airlines cancels hundreds more flights, provides update on next week's projection

Spirit Airlines – which is dealing with a barrage of flight delays and cancellations — projects that travel disruptions will finally wind down by next week. 

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Spirit Airlines told FOX Business that the carrier's cancellation rate improved Thursday and is "on track to improve further today [Friday]."

Spirit CEO Ted Christie further projects that the airline's cancellation rate will "continue to improve over the weekend, resuming normal operations by the middle of next week," the airline said in a statement to FOX Business. 

The airline expects disruptions to last until at least Tuesday, although it couldn't offer any details on how many delays and cancellations passengers should expect. 

As of early Friday afternoon, about 41% of the airline's flight schedule was already canceled, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware. About 10% of flights were delayed. That figure is slightly down from midday Thursday when roughly 52% of the airline's flight schedule was already canceled, according to FlightAware data.   

Still, Friday marks the sixth consecutive day of cancellations and delays, which the discount carrier blames on a "month’s worth of tough operating conditions in July" such as weather challenges, staffing shortages and system outages. 

"What started with weather and its associated delays led to more and more crew members getting dislocated and being unable to fly their assigned trips," Spirit said in a statement. "Ultimately, the number of crews facing those issues outpaced our crew scheduling department’s capacity for getting them back in place." 

Earlier this week, the airline said it was proactively canceling some flights — dropping them before most passengers drive to the airport — to "reset" the operation.

SPIRIT AIRLINES PASSENGERS REPORTEDLY STRANDED FOR OVER 30 HOURS WITH 'NO SORT OF RESOLVE'

Spirit said it is working to provide hotels and meal vouchers for customers while also trying to purchase tickets through other airlines for passengers.

"To our Guests, I am truly sorry," Christie said. "We’ve spent years investing in the reliable, on-time experience you’ve come to expect with Spirit, and this week we fell short. We’re going to do everything we can to earn back your loyalty."

The travel disruptions started last weekend, leaving thousands of flyers stranded at airports to fend for themselves. Images of passengers sprawled out on the terminal grounds and waiting in long lines appeared on social media.  

This comes as airlines deal with the increase in travel and a lighter workforce than they are used to. Airlines have thousands of fewer employees than they did before the pandemic although air travel has recovered to about 80% of 2019 levels.

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On Aug. 1, more than 2.2 million people were screened at airport security checkpoints across the nation. It marked the "highest checkpoint volume since the start of the pandemic," according to TSA spokesperson Lisa Farbstein.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.