IT system failure delays, disrupts Lufthansa flights worldwide

Lufthansa tweeted, "An IT outage is currently affecting Lufthansa Group airlines. Flights are being delayed and cancelled due to this. We apologise for any inconvenience this has caused our passengers."

An IT failure at Germany's flag carrier Lufthansa has caused massive flight delays and disruption at airlines worldwide, the company said on Wednesday, February 15, adding that the cause of the failure was still unknown. 'A group-wide IT system failure has occurred,' a Lufthansa spokesperson informed Reuters.

Following the photos and videos from various airports across Germany, thousands of stranded passengers waited to be checked in.

At 0936 GMT, shares in Lufthansa, which owns SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, and Eurowings, were down 1.2 per cent. Lufthansa worked tirelessly to resolve the issue, said Bild, citing a company spokesperson.

Passengers on social media said the failure forced the company to board planes with pen and paper and could not digitally process passengers' luggage.

Lufthansa tweeted, "An IT outage is currently affecting Lufthansa Group airlines. Flights are being delayed and cancelled due to this. We apologise for any inconvenience this has caused our passengers."

The IT system failure occurred just two days before planned strikes at seven German airports, which are expected to cause major disruptions.