The control tower at Orlando International Airport is viewed between two Spirit Airlines passenger jets parked outside a hangar. (Phelan M. Ebenhack/AP)

When Spirit Airlines learned that a Texas woman had died of covid-19 on one of its flights in July, the airline said it alerted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and received an acknowledgment from the agency.

But Spirit spokesman Erik Hofmeyer said it was never asked by health authorities to share passenger manifests to aid in tracking down people who might have been exposed.