A cyberattack targeting a key service provider has caused widespread disruption at several major European airports, forcing airlines to revert to manual check-in procedures and leaving thousands of passengers facing delays and cancellations on Saturday.
Collins Aerospace, the U.S.-based aviation technology firm that supplies check-in and boarding systems to airlines worldwide, confirmed it was experiencing a technical issue linked to the attack. The disruption has impacted operations at airports including London Heathrow, Brussels, and Berlin, with passengers warned to expect long queues, slower processing, and possible cancellations.
London’s Heathrow, one of the busiest airports in Europe, said Collins’ systems failure meant that departing passengers were experiencing delays. “The provider is working urgently to resolve the issue, but check-in and boarding processes are currently slower than usual,” an airport spokesperson said.
Brussels Airport reported that the automated systems had been rendered inoperable, forcing staff to process passengers manually. “This has a large impact on the flight schedule and will unfortunately cause delays and cancellations of flights,” the airport said in a statement. It urged passengers to check with their airlines before traveling to the airport.
Berlin Airport echoed those warnings in a banner on its website, citing “longer waiting times at check-in” due to the technical failure. “We are working on a quick solution,” it added.
While airports in London, Brussels, and Berlin bore the brunt of the disruption, others reported no impact. Germany’s Frankfurt Airport, the country’s busiest, confirmed that its systems remained unaffected. Similarly, Zurich Airport said operations there were running normally.
The scale of the attack highlights the vulnerabilities in aviation’s reliance on centralized digital infrastructure. Airlines and airports across Europe depend heavily on third-party providers like Collins Aerospace for critical passenger processing systems, meaning a single outage can quickly cascade into widespread disruption.
Passengers affected by Saturday’s outage voiced frustration at lengthy queues and missed connections, with some sharing images of crowded terminals on social media. Airports warned that the situation could take several hours to stabilize and advised passengers to monitor flight updates closely.
Collins Aerospace has not released further details about the nature of the cyberattack but confirmed that engineers are working to restore systems as quickly as possible. Authorities in the UK, Belgium, and Germany said they were monitoring the situation but stressed that safety was not compromised.
The incident comes amid growing concerns about cybersecurity in the aviation industry. Experts have repeatedly warned that airlines and airports are high-value targets for cybercriminals, given the reliance on interconnected systems and the severe economic fallout of even brief disruptions.
As of Saturday evening, flight schedules at Heathrow, Brussels, and Berlin remained heavily affected, with uncertainty about when full service would resume.
