Passengers faced dozens of cancelled and delayed flights on Sunday as a result of a cyberattack that affected check-in systems at several European airports. The impact was expected to get worse for at least one major airport. Brussels Airport, seemingly the hardest hit, said it asked airlines to cancel nearly 140 departing flights scheduled for Monday because a U.S.-based software system provider “is not yet able to deliver a new secure version of the check-in system.” The airport said 25 outbound flights were cancelled on Saturday and 50 on Sunday.
Starting late Friday, airports in Brussels, London and Berlin were hit by disruptions to electronic systems that snarled up check-in and sent airline staffers trying options like hand-writing boarding passes or using backup laptops. Numerous other airports in Europe were unaffected. The cyberattack affected software of Collins Aerospace, whose systems help passengers check in, print boarding passes and bag tags, and dispatch their luggage. The European Commission, the executive branch of the 27-nation European Union, stated that aviation safety and air traffic control were unaffected. The U.S.-based company cited a “cyber-related disruption” to its software at “select” European airports on Saturday. It was not immediately clear who might be behind the cyberattack, but experts said it could turn out to be hackers, criminal organizations, or state actors. There was currently no indication of a widespread or severe attack, while the origin of the incident remained under investigation, it added.While departure boards for London’s Heathrow and Berlin’s Brandenburg airports were showing signs of smoother arrivals and departures on Sunday, Brussels Airport was still facing considerable issues.
Brussels Airport said in an email Sunday that it had asked airlines to cancel half of the 276 scheduled departing flights on Monday, “because Collins Aerospace is not yet able to deliver a new secure version of the check-in system.” It stated that cancellations and delays would continue as long as manual check-in was required. Collins Aerospace’s parent company, RTX Corp., did not immediately respond to two emails Sunday asking for clarification. On Saturday, the aviation and defense technology company said in a statement that it was working to resolve the issue: “The impact is limited to electronic customer check-in and baggage drop and can be mitigated with manual check-in operations.”
Cyberattack disrupts check-in systems at 3 European airports for 2nd day
