We know that Spirit Airlines is in a really tough spot financially, as the company is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy for the second time in a year, and the carrier is really hanging on by a thread. In addition to whatever financial issues the airline has, it’s also having serious problems with operating reliably, and things have gotten worse with the new year. What’s going on here, exactly?
Spirit Airlines keeps canceling & delaying flights
If you look at FlightAware’s flight delay cancelation and delay dashboard, you’ll notice that only one airline in the United States really seems to be struggling with operational reliability so far in 2026. Specifically, Spirit has been canceling and delaying a concerning number of flights:
- On Thursday, January 1, 2025, Spirit canceled 11% of flights and delayed 38% of flights
- On Friday, January 2, 2025, Spirit canceled 14% of flights and delayed 33% of flights
- On Saturday, January 3, 2025 (today, as of 6:30AM ET), Spirit canceled 9% of flights and delayed 3% of flights
Saturday is just getting started, so I suspect this will get significantly worse as the day goes on. While I wouldn’t quite call this a crisis or a meltdown, it’s still a pattern of serious issues with operational reliability. The airline also hasn’t actually provided an explanation publicly for why the schedule has struggled so much, so the communication hasn’t been great.
Record sick calls to blame for operational issues
Yesterday evening, the airline did issue an internal memo about what’s going on. The company’s Chief Operating Officer explains the following to employees:
As of 5 p.m. we moved the airline to ADP Level 3, which means we are in a significant IROP driven by Crew-availability cancellations as a result of record sick calls.
How did we get here?
Unless you haven’t been working for the last couple of weeks, you know we have had a very challenging holiday period beginning way back on December 19. The typical weather and ATC issues related to holiday volume have been exacerbated by fully depleted reserve levels. Our reserve levels are virtually the same as they have been since 2023, but during this holiday our sick calls have exceeded previous periods by nearly 250% on some days. The result was 55 cancels yesterday and more than 60 today, leaving thousands of Guests stranded.What happens now?
We need to get the airline back on its feet immediately. Everyone who isn’t sick has been working very hard and around the clock, your efforts are commendable. Some of you have been extended multiple times and have continued to give us your best, thank you.We have seen the reports of various viruses going around. For those who are ill, I am sorry and I hope you feel better soon. It’s no fun to be sick, especially during the holidays. For those who are well or have beaten their illness, we need you. ALL OF YOU! We have a lot of available crew open time for both Pilots and Flight Attendants. We need to fill that open time now and stop the cancellations.
Spirit Needs You
I am proud of Spirit and even more proud of this team. The outside speculation and rumors from third parties about our demise are damaging, distracting and frankly infuriate me. That said, we are in no position to be able to sustain a significant IROP, so we need to end it now.I know you are tired, frustrated and likely worried about the future, and I get that. You are not alone. Being here for more than 12 years, I also know how much you all really care about each other, our airline and our Guests. Help prove those naysayers wrong about Spirit’s demise. Let’s all pull together to bring us back to normal ops as soon as possible! I know I can count on you to help and thank you in advance.
While it’s not explained, keep in mind that the airline is losing employees at a very fast pace. For example, the airline was supposed to furlough around 10% of pilots in early 2026, but canceled those furloughs, because so many pilots are leaving voluntarily. So I imagine when you combine a lot of sick employees with a lot of attrition, it makes for a very bad combination.
Despite Spirit shrinking, it seems that the airline has gone from overstaffed to understaffed very quickly. It also seems that maybe many employees just aren’t that invested in making the company run anymore. I mean, can you blame them, when they’ve just taken pay cuts, and there are rumors every day that a liquidation is imminent?
So we’ll mark this as “developing,” but seeing around 50% of flights each day either delayed or canceled, and seeing a cancelation rate of over 10%, is not so great.
Bottom line
Spirit Airlines is struggling to operate even its greatly scaled back network reliably, as the airline has seen delays or cancelations for nearly 50% of its flights on the first two days of 2026 (with 11-14% of total flights canceled).
This primarily comes down to employees calling in sick, as it seems the airline has gone from being overstaffed to understaffed very quickly. Given all of Spirit’s other issues, this is hardly what the company needs right now, but I also can’t say I’m surprised.
What do you make of Spirit’s issues with operating reliably?
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