Cyberattack disrupts check-in systems at major European airports : NPR

People at BER Airport as a cyber attack caused delays in Berlin, Germany on Saturday.

Carsten Koall / DPA via AP

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Carsten Koall / DPA via AP

Brussels – A cyber attack targeting the recording and boarding systems disrupted air traffic and caused delays in several of the main European airports, officials announced on Saturday.

Brussels Airport said that the attack means that only manual recording and boarding was possible, and the incident had a “big impact” on flight schedules.

“There was a cyber attack on Friday evening September 19 against the service provider for registration and boarding systems affecting several European airports, including Brussels Airport,” he said in a statement.

Berlin airport authorities in Brandeburg said that a service provider for passenger handling systems had been attacked on Friday evening, prompted airport operators to cut connections with systems.

London Heathrow Airport, the busiest in Europe, said that “a technical problem” has assigned a service provider for registration and boarding systems.

“Collins Aerospace, which provides recording and boarding systems for several airlines in several airports around the world, is experiencing a technical problem that can cause delays for passengers who were struggling,” Heathrow said in a press release.

Airports advised travelers to check the status of their flight and apologize for any drawback.

Trained in 2018, Collins is an American aviation and defense technology company and a subsidiary of RTX Corp., which was previously Raytheon Technologies.

Collins provides the technology that allows passengers to go to the boarding and boarding passes and send their own luggage, all from a kiosk.

Collins said that it was “aware of a disturbance linked to the cyber” to its Muse software (multi-user system environment) in “Select Airports”, but that manual registration operations could always be used.

“We are actively working to solve the problem and restore full functionality to our customers as quickly as possible,” he said in a statement. “The impact is limited to the electronic recording of customers and luggage fall and can be attenuated with manual registration operations.”

The impact was only felt in certain airports: Roissy, Orly and Le Bourget airports in the Paris region have reported no disturbance.