Cyberattack disrupts check-in systems at major European airports
Brussels – A cyber attack targeting the registration and boarding systems disrupted air traffic and caused delays in several of the main European airports on Saturday, officials said, although the initial impact seems to be limited.
The disturbances of electronic systems initially reported in Brussels, Brandenburg de Berlin and Heathrow airports in London meant that only manual recording and boarding were possible. Many other European airports have said that their operations were not affected.
“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,” Brussels airport said in a press release, initially reporting a “significant impact” on flight hours.
Airports said the problem focused on a supplier of registration and boarding systems – not airlines or airports themselves.
Collins Aerospace, whose systems help the passengers to go to, the pass of boarding and the bags of bags and send their luggage from a kiosk, cited a “disturbance linked to cyber” to its Muse software (environment of the multi-user system) in “Select Airports”.
As the day advanced, the benefits seemed to be contained.
Brussels airport spokesperson Ihsane Chioua Lekhli told VTM broadcaster that in the middle of the morning, nine flights had been canceled, four had been redirected to another airport and 15 deadlines against an hour or more. She said he was not immediately clear how long the disturbances could last.
Axel Schmidt, communications manager at Brandenburg airport, said that in late morning, “we have no canceled flight for this specific reason, but that could change.” Berlin airport said operators had cut connections with affected systems.
Heathrow, the busiest airport in Europe, said that the disturbance had been “minimal” without cancellation of flight directly linked to the problems that afflict Collins. A spokesperson would not provide details on the number of delayed flights due to the cyber attack.
Airports advised travelers to check the status of their flight and apologize for any drawback.
Collins, an aviation and defense technology company which is a subsidiary of RTX Corp., formerly Raytheon Technologies, said that it “worked actively to solve the problem and restore full functionality to our customers as quickly as possible”.
“The impact is limited to customer electronic recording and luggage fall and can be attenuated with manual registration operations,” he said in a statement.
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