BRUSSELS (AP) – Cyberattacks targeting check-in and boarding systems destroyed air traffic, causing delays at some of Europe’s major airports on Saturday, officials said, but initial impacts appeared to be limited.
The disruption to electronic systems first reported at Brussels, Brandenburg in Berlin and Heathrow airport in London meant that only manual check-in and boarding were possible. Many other European airports said their operations were not affected.
“On the evening of Friday, September 19th, there was a cyberattack on service providers for check-in and boarding systems affecting several European airports, including Brussels Airport,” Brussels Airport said in a statement, initially reporting a “major impact” on flight schedules.
The airport said the issue focused on the check-in and boarding system providers, not on the airline or the airport itself.
Collins Aerospace helped passengers check in, print boarding passes and bag tags, and dispatch luggage from kiosks, cited “cyber-related confusion” in “Multi-user system environment” in “Select Airports.”
When worn that day it appeared to contain fallout.
Brussels Airport spokesman Ihsane Chioua Lekhli told broadcaster VTM that nine flights were cancelled in the morning, four were redirected to another airport, resulting in more than 15 hour delays. She said it’s not immediately clear how long the confusion will last.
“The flight has not been cancelled for this particular reason, but that could change,” Axel Schmidt, director of communications at Brandenburg Airport, said until late in the morning. Berlin Airport said operators have cut off connections to affected systems.
Heathrow, Europe’s busiest airport, said the confusion was “minimal” without cancellations of flights directly linked to issues that plague Collins. The spokesperson will not provide details on how many flights have been delayed as a result of the cyberattack.
The airport advised travelers to check their flight status and apologized for the inconvenience.
Collins, an aviation and defense technology company that is a subsidiary of RTX Corp., previously Raytheon Technologies, said it is “actively working to resolve fully functional and restore full functionalities to its customers as quickly as possible.”
“The impact is limited to electronic customers check-in and baggage drops, and can be mitigated by manual check-in operations,” the statement said.
