Traffic control IT glitch causes problems throughout German airspace

A temporary fault in the German air traffic control system led to problems throughout the whole of Germany's airspace, the air traffic control agency said on Friday.

The fault, which has since been rectified, led to delays and cancellations.

The disruption led to the loss of flight plans and weather data in particular, the agency said.

"The disruption has been resolved, the systems have been running again since 10:25 am [0825 GMT]." However, the data lost during the disruption would have to be re-entered, it said.

At Germany's largest airport in Frankfurt there were "significant delays in operations and flight cancellations," according to the website of the airport operator Fraport.

The company spoke of around 100 cancellations by the afternoon. Other airports such as Berlin, Düsseldorf and Stuttgart were also affected.

"We don't expect many more cancellations because the problems have been fixed," a spokesman said.

A Lufthansa spokesman said there were isolated flight cancellations and delays, and that no long-haul flights were affected.

There could still be some impact on the network on Friday, and the airport operator advised passengers to regularly check the flight status on the websites of the respective airlines.