Cyberattack causes disruptions at major European airports

A cyberattack targeting check-in and boarding systems disrupted air traffic and caused delays at several major airports in Europe on Saturday, including at Brussels Airport in Belgium, London Heathrow Airport in the United Kingdom and Berlin's Brandenburg Airport in Germany.

"There was a cyberattack on Friday night 19 September against the service provider for the check-in and boarding systems affecting several European airports including Brussels Airport," Brussels Airport wrote in a statement on their website, adding that only manual check-in and boarding was possible.

The cyberattack concerned the provider of check-in and boarding systems, rather than specific airlines or airports themselves.

Collins Aerospace, the company whose systems held passengers check themselves in, print boarding passes and bag tags at airports globally, cited a “cyber-related disruption” to its software at “select airports.”

Brussels Airport spokesperson, Ihsane Chioua Lekhli, told local media that nine flights had been cancelled on Saturday morning, four were redirected to another airport, including Ostend Airport and 15 were delayed by at least an hour.

Later, the airport announced it would also cancel half of its departing flights on Sunday, local media reported, in an attempt to avoid long queues and late cancellations.

35,000 passengers were expected to depart from the Belgian airport on Saturday. Brussels Airport advised passengers to only come if their flight had been confirmed.

Brandenburg Airport did not face any flight cancellations, but the airport did warn passengers for delays, as well as longer wait times for check-in and boarding. The airport said operators had cut off connections to affected systems.

Europe's busiest airport, Heathrow Airport in London, also reported no cancellations and said disruptions had been "minimal."