Cyberattack Snarls Check-In Systems at Major European Airports

Lead: A cyberattack on Collins Aerospace’s check-in and boarding systems disrupted operations at Brussels, London Heathrow and Berlin airports on Saturday, forcing manual processes and triggering widespread flight delays and cancellations.

Nut Graf: The incident, traced to a service provider’s software, underscores the vulnerability of aviation supply chains and left thousands of passengers facing uncertainty as airport operators scrambled to restore functionality.

Key Impacts

• Brussels Airport switched to manual check-in, resulting in “significant timetable” disruptions.
• London Heathrow warned of delays for departing passengers and deployed additional staff at kiosks.
• Berlin Airport severed connections to affected systems to contain the breach, leading to extended wait times.
• Frankfurt and Zurich airports reported no impact, highlighting uneven exposure across Europe’s hubs.

Airport and Provider Responses

Collins Aerospace, a unit of RTX Corp., acknowledged a “cyber-related disruption” in its MUSE software at select airports and vowed to restore full functionality as quickly as possible. Brussels and Heathrow urged travelers to confirm flight status with their airlines before heading to the terminals.

Broader Implications

Cybersecurity experts warn that targeting third-party suppliers can amplify the fallout of such attacks, creating ripple effects across multiple airports. The breach highlights the need for stronger supply-chain resilience, regular security audits and robust contingency planning to prevent a single point of failure from grounding critical transport services.

Passengers were advised to arrive no more than three hours before long-haul departures and two hours before domestic flights, and to expect longer queues at check-in counters and boarding gates.