GROUNDED
Major European airline forced to cancel all flights
A MAJOR European airline has been forced to cancel all of their today flights due to an IT outage.
German airline Lufthansa confirmed that passengers should expect huge delays and cancellations due to the problem.
2
Frankfurt Airport has also closed for all landings due to the ongoing problem.
Anyone with domestic flights in Germany is being asked to book train tickets to their destination instead.
Construction work on a railway line in Frankurt was confirmed to be the reason behind the outage, which hopes to be fixed later today.
A spokesperson confirmed: "Fiber-optic cables belonging to a telecommunications service provider were damaged during construction work on tracks in Frankfurt, causing an outage of Lufthansa's IT systems at the airport in Frankfurt.
Read more on airlines
"Flight operations are expected to stabilize in the early evening.
"Lufthansa asks affected passengers to check the status of their flight on the company's app or website before arriving at the airport.
"Passengers with domestic flights can switch to Deutsche Bahn until Sunday. We regret the inconvenience this will cause our passengers."
Passengers at Frankfurt Airport complained on social media that they were not being informed of what was happening.
Most read in News Travel
One person asked: "Can we get official information on the situation with the @Airport_FRA computer system?
"It seems like it's down and there are extensive delays, even though none of it is being reported on or described online."
Another said: "Great! Complete outage , staff on site has no clue what’s up."
Others said that planes were being boarded manually, but they wouldn't be able to depart without the system being operational.
Someone else added: "They are talking about getting everything organized manually - pen and paper like back in the 80s. But departures need the system."
In a video on Twitter, an airport staff member confirmed it was a "worldwide failure" but couldn't confirm how long it would last.
The full number of flights that have been cancelled has not yet been confirmed, the airline usually operates around 800 daily flights.
Thousands of passengers have been affected by the outage this morning already.
2