Lufthansa Grounding Likely Caused by Deutsche Telekom Cable Cut
German air traffic control diverting landings from Frankfurt
Europe’s biggest carrier operates around 700 aircraft
Due to serious IT problems at Lufthansa, passengers and aircraft are jammed in Frankfurt. German air traffic control has closed the airport to landings because of this. The airline has also stopped all departures.
The effects of the serious IT problems at Lufthansa are spreading. German Air Traffic Control (DFS) is currently no longer directing aircraft to Frankfurt Airport. This is to prevent the hub from filling up, as a DFS spokesman confirmed on Wednesday. Planes are being diverted to other airports such as Nuremberg, Cologne or Düsseldorf.
International flights are also affected by the country closure, meaning that numerous transfer passengers will miss their connections. (…)
According to the company, the serious problems were triggered by construction work on a rail line in Frankfurt. Several Deutsche Telekom fiber-optic cables are said to have been cut by an excavator on Tuesday. In the Frankfurt area in particular, many Deutsche Telekom customers have had no Internet or telephone service since the evening.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
#BREAKING: Frankfurt airport halts almost all landings amid Lufthansa IT problems. (AFP)
— Instant News Alerts (@InstaNewsAlerts) February 15, 2023
The U.S. Consulate General in Frankfurt am Main is home to the Special Collection Service, a unit jointly operated by the NSA and CIA. Snowden documents show the technical equipment of the spying force.
The Special Collection Service (SCS) of the NSA and CIA operates wiretaps around the world, mostly from the protection of embassies and consulates. The employees are accredited as diplomats. In addition to the U.S. Embassy in Berlin, the SCS apparently operates another site at the U.S. Consulate General in Frankfurt am Main.
🚨 Breaking #Lufthansa 🚨 pic.twitter.com/s1ijZnVg7w
— Springyard™🌐 (@springyard99) February 15, 2023
h/t Sundecoder