Nationwide IT Outage Disrupts German Airports' Border Control

A nationwide IT outage in Germany disrupted police systems at border controls across major airports, causing long queues and delays for passengers from outside the Schengen area. Officers had to manually process arrivals, resulting in extended waiting times at key airports such as Frankfurt and Duesseldorf.

In a significant disruption to travel, German airports faced a nationwide IT outage affecting police systems responsible for border control on Friday. The malfunction led to extended immigration queues for passengers arriving from outside the European Union's Schengen travel zone.

The cause of the outage is yet to be identified. However, it resulted in passengers waiting in long lines at several German airports, including Frankfurt, the country's busiest hub. Berlin airport officials confirmed increased waiting times at immigration for non-Schengen passengers.

According to a spokesperson for Duesseldorf airport, disruptions began around 2 p.m. local time, forcing border control processes to be handled manually. This led to some passengers waiting up to two hours or being kept on planes. Authorities have been providing water to affected travelers while coping with the situation.

(With inputs from agencies.)