Lufthansa Cargo's cargo handling operations at the Frankfurt and Munich hubs were completely suspended over the weekend due to an IT system failure. This disruption forced freight forwarders to seek alternative routes as cargo backlogs increased.

Customers were informed about widespread outages affecting the German airline's IT provider, which led to service interruptions. Lufthansa Cargo representatives confirmed that the cargo handling system experienced disruptions for about six hours last Saturday, and cargo acceptance in Frankfurt and Munich was temporarily restricted.

In some cases, shipments were delayed and required rebooking. The exact number of affected bookings was not specified, as most shipments were not canceled but rescheduled. It was also not disclosed how many shipments were impacted by the outage or how long it lasted. At 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, customers were told that resolving the issue could take several more hours.

No information was provided about which IT provider's systems were affected. It is known that the carrier uses IBS Software systems for ground cargo management.

Two years ago, Lufthansa Cargo also faced an operational halt due to a Microsoft failure caused by a software update from a security provider.

Recovery from such incidents can take significantly longer than the outage itself and depends on the scale of the IT problem and market conditions at the time it occurs.

Although, according to market participants, the scale of the current incident was less severe than in 2024, the situation once again highlighted the industry's growing dependence on technology over the past decade.