Spirit Airlines (NK, Fort Lauderdale International) pulled 25 planes from service late last week to perform inspections, which the low-cost carrier said was happening "out of an abundance of caution." The all-Airbus operator operates 207 narrowbody aircraft.
Spirit said the checks were "necessary" and would impact its flight schedules. “While this action is being taken out of an abundance of caution, the impact to our network is expected to last several days as we complete the inspections and work to return to normal operations,” the airline's statement reads.
ADS-b data reveals that the airline cancelled 11% of its flights on October 20, 9% on October 21, and 8% on October 22. By October 23, the start of the current working week, the cancellation rate fell to 1% and was less than that the following day. While scores of Spirit's aircraft are impacted by the recall of certain Pratt & Whitney PW1100G engines, FlightGlobal reports that these aircraft went out of service to facilitate inspection of airframe brackets for possible fatigue cracks. A 2018 airworthiness directive details the issue that affects first-generation A320 Family jets but not newer A320neo types.
Spirit operates sixty-two A320-200s and thirty A321-200s among its broader fleet, which also includes twenty-three A319-100s, eight-two A320-200Ns, and eight A321-200NX. It says it will deal with any problems before returning any aircraft to service. However, the airline did not say how long it would take to complete the inspections of the 25 planes. Spirit Airlines did not respond to a request from ch-aviation for further details.
