Hundreds of flights were canceled or delayed on Wednesday after airline Lufthansa experienced an IT failure, leaving thousands stranded, according to reports.
More than 200 flights were canceled in Frankfurt, Germany, which serves a hub for the German-based airline, Reuters reported. Frankfurt is one of the largest airports in Europe.
A Lufthansa Airbus A321-200 aircraft takes off from Tegel Airport in Berlin, Germany. (Reuters)
“As of this morning, Lufthansa Group airlines are affected by IT outages due to construction work in the Frankfurt area,” the airline tweeted. “Unfortunately, this has caused flight delays and cancellations.”
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The airline asked passengers that as it prepares for the fallout from the upcoming strike this Friday, they check their flight status to keep up to date on last-minute changes.
“We understand the difficulty this situation is causing and hope to be able to provide assistance to you as soon as possible,” Lufthansa tweeted.
Frankfurt International Airport (iStock)
IT systems later said all systems were back up and running and they expected flights to return to normal by Thursday.
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The airline reportedly blamed the failure on engineering that was conducted by a third-party on the railway line extension on Tuesday night.
While the work was being done, a drill was reportedly cut by a Deutsche Telekom fiber optic cable bundle.
As a result, Lufthansa’s passenger check-in and boarding systems crashed, and air traffic controllers were asked to suspend inbound flights.
Geet, with hundreds of flights cancelled, over 100 delayed.
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Frankfurt was not the only airport to experience repercussions. In fact, Charles de Gaulle in Paris reported that two flights had been canceled and two others had been diverted.
