Spirit Airlines

What the Data Says About Spirit Airlines

Across 1,278,352 flights reported to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics between 2020 and 2025, Spirit Airlines (NK) posted a 77.6% on-time rate, with 286,328 delayed departures and 28,009 cancellations. The carrier's average delay when flights run late is 73.7 minutes, and its cancellation rate of 2.19% sits alongside an overall delay rate of 22.4%. Those baseline numbers frame every comparison you can make with other carriers in the BTS dataset.

Digging into causes, NAS drives the biggest share of minutes lost, with NAS (National Aviation System) accounting for 39.4% of delay time and Late Aircraft contributing 28.3%. Weather — often blamed informally — represents 3.7% of total delay minutes, while National Aviation System constraints such as air traffic control and airspace congestion make up 39.4%. Security delays remain the smallest bucket at 0.7%. Taken together, operational and scheduling factors outweigh weather as the dominant driver of Spirit Airlines delays.

Seasonality matters too. Recent monthly data shows November 2024 as the best period for Spirit Airlines with a 86% on-time rate, while July 2024 was the roughest at 66% on-time — a spread of 19 percentage points between best and worst month. For passengers choosing between carriers, the combination of a 77.6% on-time rate, 73.7-minute average delay, and 2.19% cancellation rate is the clearest summary of what to expect on Spirit Airlines flights based on BTS reporting.