An IT outage disrupted Lufthansa Cargo's handling operations in Frankfurt and Munich on Saturday, August 15. According to the airline, the handling system was impaired for approximately six hours. The acceptance of new cargo had to be temporarily restricted at both locations.
The timing was unfortunate for freight forwarders. Those who needed to deliver goods on short notice, catch a connecting flight, or process time-critical shipments occasionally required a Plan B. According to The Loadstar, some freight forwarders sought alternatives. Saturday afternoon, customers were informed that a solution could take several hours.
On August 18, Lufthansa Cargo stated that isolated delays and necessary rebookings could still occur. The actual number of shipments affected remains unknown. Many transports were postponed rather than cancelled.
Such an outage is particularly critical in Frankfurt. The airport is Europe's largest cargo hub measured by air freight volume. When fewer goods can be accepted and processed there for several hours, truck deliveries, flight connections, and subsequent handling operations quickly shift downstream.
The incident thus makes one thing abundantly clear: without functioning IT systems, modern air cargo operations cannot run smoothly.