Lufthansa Cargo will begin lifting its transit embargo for certain shipments on Monday as the labor situation at its Frankfurt, Germany hub stabilizes following an outbreak of COVID-19 that has infected several workers, American Shipper learned.

The airline’s cargo division stopped accepting transit bookings on Wednesday due to a growing number of infections linked to the omicron variant which forced many warehouse staff to self-quarantine, slowing down cargo handling.

Omicron cases hit record highs in Frankfurt this week, according to reports from Germany.

As staff recover or complete their required isolation period, Lufthansa Cargo will begin accepting and delivering bulk cargo for the United States, Canada and selected European stations, said Jacqueline Casini, Senior Director of company communications, in a statement. Customers can resume booking at that time.

Restrictions will remain in place for other types of freight passing through Frankfurt from around the world, but authorities will continue to assess the situation and adjust schedules as circumstances dictate.

All local import and export deliveries continue to be permitted.

Additionally, certain product groups, including same-day shipments, valuable freight, animals, organ donations, mail, temperature-controlled shipments, and vaccines are not affected by the restrictions.

Lufthansa’s other European hubs in Munich, Vienna and Brussels are not affected by omicron and continue to operate as normal.

The infections do not involve the pilots and the freighters continue to operate as planned, Casini said.

For reasons of confidentiality, she refused to identify the number of sick people.

Click here for more FreightWaves/American Shipper stories by Eric Kulisch.

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