European airports are set back slowly after cyberat check-in systems are directed

The main European airports are beginning to recover after they were run over by a cyber attack that affected registration systems, causing flight cancellations and huge delays for thousands of passengers in the last two days.

From Friday night, the main airports in Brussels, London and Berlin were affected by interruptions to electronic systems that growl the check-in and sent the employees of the airlines that tried options such as handbill passes or using laptop backup computers. Many other European airports were not affected.

It was not clear immediately who could be behind cyber attack, but experts said it could be hackers, criminal organizations or state actors.

The cyber attack affected Collins Aerospace software, whose systems help passengers to register, print shipping passes and bag tags, and send their luggage. The United States headquarters on Saturday cited a “cyber interruption” on its software in “selected” airports in Europe.

While the London Heathrow output boards and Berlin Brandenburg airports showed signs of softest arrivals and departures on Sunday, Brussels airport still faced considerable problems.

IHSANE CHIOUA LEKHLI, spokesman for the Brussels Airport, said that 45 departure flights and 30 entrants were canceled on Sunday, more than double the number before: 25 departures and 13 arrivals canceled.

The cyber attack affected only computer systems in Check-In desks, not the self-service kiosks, he said, and the equipment was resorting to alternative backup systems and taking portable computers to help deal with impact.

It was not clear when the situation would be solved, “for now, we have no idea of ​​the moment, we are taking it every day.”

Airports advised passengers to verify the status of their flights before traveling to airports and use alternative registration methods.

“The work continues to be resolved and recover from the Friday interruption of a Collins aerospace airlines system that impacted the check-in,” said a Heathrow statement. “We apologize to those who have faced delays, but when working together with the airlines, the vast majority of flights have continued to operate.”

A continuous message on Sunday on the website of the Brandenburg airport said: “Due to an interruption of systems in a service provider, there are longer waiting times. Use the check-in online, the self-service check-in and the fast-bag fall service.”

Collins, an Aviation and Defense Technology Company that is a subsidiary of RTX Corp., previously Raytheon Technologies, said Saturday that he was working to solve the problem.

“The impact is limited to the client’s electronic check-in and the fall of luggage and can be mitigated with manual registration operations,” he said in a statement.

Cybernetic attacks and technological interruptions have interrupted airports worldwide in recent years, since air trips depend more and more on online and interconnected systems.

The aviation sector saw a 600% increase in cyber attacks from 2024 to 2025, according to a report by the French aerospace company Thales published in June, News reported.

News contributed to this report.

• Heathrow airport
• Cyberata
• European Union
• Germany
• Brussels