- Nager bites through cables - airport without power for hours
A rodent caused significant disruptions to the power supply at Frankfurt Airport for several hours. Around 10:45 PM on Monday, it caused a short circuit in a medium voltage transformer station, as reported by energy company Syna.
As a result, power was lost and smoke was detected, prompting a response from the airport fire brigade. The network was restored around 3:21 AM after switching operations. According to information from airport sources, the rodent was likely a dormouse.
The impact on air traffic was minimal, according to Fraport, as the short circuit occurred just before the start of the night flight ban and was resolved in time before traffic resumed. Delays and cancellations may still occur throughout the day, a spokesperson said. There are planned to be 1242 flight movements with around 189,000 expected passengers, indicating a busy day with many flights. Eleven cancellations were announced in the morning. Around 1000 bags were left at the terminal in the evening and will now be sent to passengers.
The power outage affected areas A and partially B in Terminal 1 of the airport, which is mainly used by Lufthansa. There may still be issues with check-in machines at Lufthansa, requiring manual baggage handling, the Fraport spokesperson said. The backup power supply for critical systems was activated. The safety of Germany's largest airport was never compromised.
The affected areas were primarily in Terminal 1, with other parts of the airport remaining operational. Passengers affected by the power outage may need to adapt to potential delays or changes in their itineraries due to the incident.
