A cyber attack on a third-party systems provider has caused widespread flight disruptions at several major European airports, including London Heathrow, Brussels and Berlin, authorities said on Saturday.
Brussels Airport confirmed at least four flights were cancelled on Saturday morning, including departures to Rwanda and Amsterdam, after an attack on Friday night that disabled automated check-in and boarding systems.
The airport said only manual check-in procedures were available, warning of a “major impact on flight schedules” with major delays and cancellations expected.
Berlin Airport also warned passengers of “longer waiting times than usual” due to the incident.
“We are working on a quick solution,” the airport said in a notice on its website.
London Heathrow also warned passengers of delays, citing a “technical issue” at Collins Aerospace, a company that provides check-in and boarding systems for several airlines around the world.
“We advise passengers to check the status of their flight with their airline before travelling,” it said, noting that extra staff had been deployed to assist.
Collins confirmed that the attack targeted its MUSE software, which is used for passenger check-in and baggage drop-off at selected airports, the British daily The Independent reported.
“The impact is limited to customer electronic check-in and baggage drop-off and can be mitigated through manual operations,” the company said in a statement, adding that it was working to restore full functionality “as quickly as possible.”
EasyJet also said its operations remained unaffected despite the disruption.
Authorities in Brussels and Berlin said the duration of the disruption was unknown as efforts continued to resolve the cybercrime-related disruptions.
