A cyberattack targeting check-in and boarding systems disrupted air transport and caused delays at several major European airports on Saturday. These include London Heathrow Airport in the UK and Brandenburg Airport in Berlin, Germany.
“On the evening of Friday, September 19th, there was a cyberattack on service providers of check-in and boarding systems affecting several European airports, including Brussels Airport,” the Brussels Airport wrote in a statement on its website, adding that only manual check-in and boarding is possible.
Cyberattacks involved not with specific airlines or airports themselves, but with providers of check-in and boarding systems.
Collins Aerospace cited “cyber-related confusion” in its “Select Airports” software, Collins Aerospace, a system that checks passengers in, printing passes and bag tags for boarding passes at airports around the world.
Brussels Airport spokesman Ihsane Chioua Lekhli told local media that nine flights were cancelled on Saturday morning, four were redirected to another airport, including Ostend, with 15 being delayed at least an hour.
The airport then announced that it would cancel half of flights departing on Sunday, local media reported, to avoid long queues and late cancellations.
35,000 passengers were scheduled to depart from the Belgian airport on Saturday. Brussels Airport advised passengers to come only if flights were confirmed.
Brandenburg Airport was not faced with flight cancellations, but the airport warned passengers of delays, increasing check-in and boarding wait times. The airport said operators had cut off connections to affected systems.
London’s Heathrow Airport, Europe’s busiest airport, also reported no cancellations, saying the confusion was “minimal.”