Spirit Airlines Inc. Chief Executive Ted Christie apologized for five days of flight cancellations that upended plans for thousands of people, saying the airline had struggled to resolve problems that spiraled out of control.
The Florida-based budget carrier has canceled over 1,700 flights since Sunday, including 443 on Thursday, over half its schedule for the day, and 120 flights on Friday, according to flight tracking firm FlightAware. The airline canceled 60% of its flights on Tuesday and Wednesday.
“All I can say is we’re very sorry for what’s happened,” Mr. Christie told reporters. “This is a gut punch to everyone.”
Spirit has spent years trying to improve its operation and rehabilitate its image with passengers. The chaotic scenes in some airports this week—as travelers have been stranded, sometimes for days—have been a major setback. Mr. Christie, who has been Spirit’s CEO since 2019, estimated that “tens or hundreds of thousands” of passengers were impacted.
“There’s definitely some angry people,” Mr. Christie said.