Massive cyberattack disrupts operations some of Europe’s busiest airports

Massive cyberattack disrupts operations some of Europe’s busiest airports

September, 20 2025

BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/LONDON (Web Desk): A major cyberattack on a system provider has thrown operations into chaos at several of Europe’s largest airports, including London’s Heathrow, the busiest in the continent. Passengers faced delays and cancellations as check-in and boarding services broke down.

The affected company, Collins Aerospace, supplies airline systems at airports worldwide. Heathrow confirmed the disruption, warning departing travelers to expect long delays due to the technical failure.

Brussels Airport and Berlin Airport also reported being hit. Collins Aerospace’s parent company RTX admitted there was a “cyber-related disruption” in its software at selected airports, though it stopped short of naming them.

Hours later, Dublin Airport confirmed that its services had been affected too, though only with minor delays. Cork Airport, Ireland’s second largest, also reported disruption to passenger systems.

The scale of the attack has left passengers anxious, with many questioning how secure global aviation systems truly are.

"The impact is limited to electronic customer check-in and baggage drop and can be mitigated with manual check-in operations," RTX said in an emailed statement, adding that it was working to fix the issue as quickly as possible. It did not give any information on who might be behind the attack.

Reuters reported that at Heathrow, Berlin and Brussels, 29 departures and arrivals have been cancelled so far, aviation data provider Cirium said. In total, 651 departures were scheduled from Heathrow, 228 from Brussels and 226 from Berlin on Saturday.

The disruption is the latest in a string of increasingly sophisticated cyber and ransomware attacks targeting governments and companies across the world, hitting sectors from healthcare and defence to retail and autos. A recent breach at luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover brought its production to a halt.

Germany s federal office for information security, the BSI, said it was in touch with Berlin Airport over "infrastructure disruptions" as a result of an outage affecting a global system for handling passengers.

The attack has rendered automated systems inoperable, allowing only manual check-in and boarding procedures, Brussels Airport said on its website, adding the incident occurred on Friday night.

"This has a large impact on the flight schedule and will unfortunately cause delays and cancellations," it said.

The airport said that 10 flights had been cancelled so far, with an average delay of one hour for all departing flights.

PASSENGERS LEFT IN THE DARK

Passengers with a flight scheduled for Saturday were advised by the affected airports to confirm their travel with airlines before heading to the airport.

Tereza Pultarova, a journalist, spoke to BBC News from inside Heathrow, where she was due to fly to Amsterdam at 6:30 a.m. (0530 GMT) for a connecting flight to Cape Town.

"Unfortunately, the airline I m with ... they don t have a service desk here, so we ve been left in the dark," she said. "It s been great chaos, and it s been quite ... frustrating for most people here," she said.

Berlin Airport said on its website that there were longer waiting times at check-in and it was working on a quick solution. Frankfurt Airport (FRAG.DE), opens new tab, Germany s largest, was not affected, a spokesperson said.

At Berlin Airport, Kim Reisen was struggling with delays and a lack of clarity, telling Reuters passengers had only been told there was "a technical fault."

Another traveller, Siegfried Schwarz, also from Berlin, said: "I ... find it inexplicable that, with today s technology, there s no way to defend yourself against something like that."

EasyJet (EZJ.L), opens new tab, among Europe s biggest airlines, said it was operating as normal and did not expect the issue to impact its flights for the rest of the day.

Ryanair (RYA.I), opens new tab and British Airways owner IAG (ICAG.L), opens new tab did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

U.S. carrier Delta Air Lines (DAL.N), opens new tab said it expected minimal impact to flights departing from the three affected airports, adding it had implemented a workaround to minimise disruption. United Airlines (UAL.O), opens new tab said the issue was "causing minor departure delays," but it had not cancelled any flights.

British transport minister Heidi Alexander said that she was receiving regular updates on the situation.