On February 15, 2023, Lufthansa airline, experienced a major IT failure, resulting in flight cancellations and delays for thousands of passengers. The system failure impacted several areas, including check-in, baggage handling, and aircraft dispatch, resulting in airport chaos and long lines.
More than 200 flights were canceled in Frankfurt, a vital international transit hub and one of Europe’s largest airports, according to a Fraport spokesperson. The cables connected the data center to the airline’s operations systems and caused a communication breakdown, which led to widespread flight cancellations and delays. The airline was forced to cancel 1,300 flights, and more than 150,000 passengers were affected. The company is still investigating the root cause of the cable failure, but it is believed to be related to the age of the cables.
The company attempted to resolve the issue, but flights were disrupted throughout the day. The airline advised passengers to check the status of their flights and offered free rebooking options.
Furthermore, on February 9, Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) was the victim of a cyberattack, which caused significant disruptions to its flights. However, it was unclear whether the Lufthansa IT failure was related to a cybersecurity issue.
Lufthansa and Germany’s national train operator blamed the incident on third-party engineering work on a railway line extension that occurred on Tuesday evening, when a drill cut through a bundle of Deutsche Telekom fiber optic cable.
The sources for this piece include an article in Reuters.