More flights canceled Thursday: Spirit Airlines says system reboot will fix it
After hundreds of flight cancellations during the past four days, Spirit Airlines said the number of cancelled flights would start to drop following a reboot of its system.
But the reboot had no effect yet as nearly 400 flights were canceled Thursday morning including 15 flights of those in/out of Atlantic City, 28 in/out of Newark and 15 from Philadelphia, according to FlightAware.com. The airline canceled 331 flights alone by 4 a.m.
The airline said the last three days have been "extremely difficult" because of “overlapping operational challenges including weather, system outages and staffing shortages" and offered an apology.
"After working through yesterday’s proactive cancellations, we’ve implemented a more thorough reboot of the network, allowing us to reassign our crews more efficiently and restore the network faster. As a result, cancellation numbers will progressively drop in the days to come," the airline said in a written statement.
The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, which represents the airline's 4,500 flight attendants, offered a more realistic view of how the reboot will work.
"In an operational breakdown like this, the airline needs to 'reset' in order to recover quicker and prevent further disruptions that could last weeks. The reset will see significant cancellations in the short term, but avoid long term disruptions," the union said.
The airline said employees from all over the company are helping to expedite processing vouchers for meals and hotels. The union said it has also negotiated premium pay for flight attendants who pick up extra flights.
The South Jersey Transportation Authority, which run the Atlantic City International Airport, on Thursday morning did not respond to New Jersey 101.5's request for more information. Spirit Airlines is the only commercial airline at Atlantic City International Airport.
Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ