Summary
- A dormouse had cut the electricity supply to Frankfurt Airport (FRA), with the electrical supply being restored several hours later.
- However, since the problem issued during the nightly curfew hours of FRA, flight disruption had been limited on the morning of August 6.
- The airport has suffered from several flight disruptions in 2024.
Frankfurt Airport (FRA), one of the biggest hubs in Europe and the busiest airport in Germany, was hit with another disruption after a rodent caused an electrical circuit, cutting off the supply of electricity to the airport for several hours.
Dormouse at fault
According to the Associated Press (AP), the short circuit happened during the late evening on August 5, with a dormouse, a nocturnal rodent found in several continents, including Europe, causing the problem.
Photo: Leif Eirik Skaue | Shutterstock
Syna, a Germany-based energy company, restored the energy supply to the airport at around 3:20 local time (UTC +2), a few hours before the airport’s curfew lifted. The dormouse passed away due to the electrical incident at an electricity substation, the AP added.
FRA has a curfew between 23:00 and 5:00 local time (UTC +2), which means that no aircraft can land or take off from the airport during those hours.

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Minimal flight impact
However, in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, FRA stated that a technical problem could cause flight delays and cancelations at the airport during the morning of August 6.
“Passengers are requested to check the status of their flight on their airline’s website before traveling to the airport and allow extra time for your journey.”
Data on Flightradar24 showed that eight departures were canceled on August 6, three of which were to destinations in the Middle East, namely Amman Queen Alia International Airport (AMM), Jordan, Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International Airport (TLV), Israel, and Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport (IKA).
Photo: Pradeep Thomas Thundiyil | Shutterstock
There, tensions have been running high after the leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in Tehran, Iran, with the country promising to retaliate against Israel for Haniyeh’s death.
In light of these events, airlines from around the world have once again begun canceling flights to Israel and neighboring countries due to security concerns, including the US big three, namely American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines.
To note, American Airlines has not planned to return to TLV until at least October.

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The carrier was previously planning to resume the flights in May.
Continuous disruptions at FRA
Over the past months, operations at FRA have been disrupted multiple times. The last disruption occurred on July 25, when climate protestors from the Germany-based organization Last Generation (Letzte Generation) glued themselves to one of the taxiways at the airport.
Photo: Tamme Wichmann | Shutterstock
Strikes from Lufthansa or the airport’s employees have also happened in March, February, and January at FRA, causing multiple flight disruptions throughout 2024.

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