A black day for Lufthansa and Frankfurt airport. The German carrier and its hub were severely disrupted on Wednesday by a computer breakdown. This led to the suspension of most landings and the cancellation of many flights.
To avoid any speculation linked to the geopolitical context, the two players involved quickly explained the origin of the 'bug': " During construction work in Frankfurt, fibre-optic cables belonging to a telecommunications service provider were damaged, causing a breakdown in Lufthansa's IT systems at Frankfurt airport today. Flight operations are currently disrupted but should stabilise by early evening. "is announced by Lufthansa.
As for passengers travelling on other airlines, they are " Please allow plenty of time for your journey and arrive early at the check-in desk before departure." .
The year 2023 is definitely not a good one for airport IT systems: last January, it was all the American sky which had been paralysed for long hours following another computer bug.
Frankfurt airport is also likely to experience further disruption in the (very) near future. Germany's main airport has warned travellers that a strike will "severely disrupt" operations from 17 February, including connecting flights.
