UPDATE - Lufthansa flights canceled, delayed over IT failure

ADDS DETAILS; CHANGES HEADLINE, DECK; EDITS THROUGHOUT

BERLIN (AA) - A breakdown during construction work by Germany's national railway company in Frankfurt led to flight chaos at flag carrier Lufthansa on Wednesday.

Thousands of passengers with connections via the Frankfurt hub were affected by delays and cancellations on Wednesday as a result of cable damage caused by railroad operator Deutsche Bahn’s construction work.

According to Deutsche Telekom, four fiber optic cables had already been cut by an excavator during the construction work on Tuesday. Frankfurt Airport was closed for about three hours on Wednesday and reopened for landings in the early afternoon.

Operations are expected to stabilize in the early evening, according to Lufthansa. Check-in and boarding systems were affected, with broadcaster RTL reporting that in some cases, paper and pen were currently being used.

Numerous flights were already delayed or even canceled Wednesday morning, according to data from the Flightradar24 portal.