Flight cancellations due to cyberattack on European airports continue
Kyiv • UNN
European airports have faced difficulties after a hacker attack on automated check-in systems. Brussels Airport is asking airlines to cancel half of their flights on Monday due to ongoing problems.
Some of Europe's largest airports struggled to return to normal operations on Sunday after hackers disrupted automated check-in systems, and Brussels asked airlines to cancel half of Monday's scheduled flights due to ongoing problems, UNN reports, citing Reuters.
Details
On Friday, hackers attacked Collins Aerospace, an RTX-owned provider of check-in and boarding systems, causing disruptions at London's Heathrow Airport - Europe's busiest airport - as well as Berlin and Brussels airports.
On Saturday, passengers faced long queues, flight cancellations, and delays. Although the situation in Berlin and Heathrow significantly improved on Sunday, delays and cancellations continued, according to airport officials and available data.
In a statement released on Monday, Collins said it was working with the four affected airports and airline customers and was in the final stages of completing the updates needed to restore full functionality.
A Brussels Airport spokesperson said Collins Aerospace had not yet provided a secure updated version of the software needed to restore full functionality, prompting the airport to request flight cancellations on Monday.
Brussels Airport said 50 of the 257 scheduled departures for Sunday were canceled to avoid long queues and last-minute flight cancellations. The day before, according to the airport operator, 25 of the 234 scheduled departures were canceled.
RTX said on Saturday that it was working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible and that the disruption could be mitigated by manual check-in.
The company said the incident affected the MUSE software used by several airlines.
On Sunday morning, Heathrow Airport reported that work was continuing after the check-in system outage. It also added that "the vast majority of flights continue to operate."
Analysis by aviation data provider Cirium reported that delays at Heathrow were "minor," in Berlin "moderate," and in Brussels "significant."
Regional regulators said they were investigating the source of the hack, which was the latest in a series of hacks affecting various sectors, from healthcare to the automotive industry. A breach at carmaker Jaguar Land Rover led to a production shutdown, and another caused hundreds of millions of pounds in losses for Marks & Spencer.