Lufthansa: Still severe disruption due to winter weather
21-Dec-2010 The winter weather in Frankfurt and across much of Germany and Europe is still severely disrupting flights operated by Lufthansa and Lufthansa Cargo.
Because of further snow, Frankfurt Airport had to close down between 5.00 am and 8.30 am this morning (Tuesday). Meantime, however, flight operations are gradually resuming.
Nevertheless, Lufthansa had to cancel all long-haul flights up until 12 hours UTC. The weather situation is also again disrupting short to medium-haul flights.
Owing to the present situation, Lufthansa Cargo is obliged to prolong the following restrictions in order to get back to stable flight operations as soon as possible:
* Up to and including 24 December, 23.59 h UTC, no more cargo will be transported on short- and medium-haul Lufthansa passenger flights. Transport, wherever possible, will be by Road Feeder Service.
* Up to and including 22 December, 23.59 h UTC, no freight will be transported into Frankfurt on long-haul Lufthansa passenger flights.
* The restrictions on transports by RFS were.lifted, as planned yesterday evening.
* The immense shipment backlog in Frankfurt is making it very difficult e.g. to prioritise the extraction of single shipments and additionally to extract cargo from built-up units.
Furthermore following restrictions are still obliged for the cargo delivery at Frankfurt Airport:
* Since warehousing space in Frankfurt is completely full, only export shipments scheduled for departure within 24 hours will be accepted. BUPs must not be delivered until a maximum of 12 hours prior to departure. Only shipments with a confirmed booking will be accepted.
Lufthansa Cargo freighters will continue flying cargo - also to Frankfurt - largely without restrictions. But freighter flights as well are subject to delays and in isolated cases, to cancellations because of the weather.
The following flights had to be cancelled:
- LH8396/21DEC FRA-KJA-ICN-PVG
- LH8397/22DEC PVG-KJA-FRA
- LH8382/21DEC FRA-KJA-KIX-TSN
- LH8383/21DEC TSN-KJA-FRA
- LH8462/21DEC FRA-JED-SHJ-HKG
- LH8463/22DEC HKG-ALA-FRA
- LH8271/20DEC VCP-DKR-FRA
- LH8296/20DEC FRA-NBO-JNB
- LH8297/20DEC JNB-NBO-FRA
- LH8204/20DEC FRA-ATL
- LH8205/20DEC ATL-FRA
- LH8412/20DEC FRA-BLR-MAA
- LH8413/21DEC MAA-SHJ-FRA
The status of shipments is available any time in the TrackIT-System. Shipments affected by flight cancellations will be loaded onto the next possible connection.
According to the weather outlook, the snow is expected to thaw and be accompanied by rain in Frankfurt in the coming hours and next few days. We sincerely hope that the situation will ease in Frankfurt, soonest. We will keep you informed about the impact on our flight operations with regular updates.
Lufthansa Cargo deeply regrets any inconvenience caused by delays and cancellations. Staff at all stations, worldwide, are doing their very utmost to keep inconvenience to customers to the minimum possible.
Updates on Lufthansa passenger flights are available at www.lufthansa.com. Delays are also expected for the hub Munich.