European airports have been hit with a massive cyberattack, disrupting flight operations in several airports, including Heathrow and Brussels.
According to CNN, major European airports on Saturday, September 20, faced widespread chaos, delays and flight cancellations after a cyberattack disrupted check-ins and boarding systems.
Heathrow Airport, while issuing a warning about potential flight delays, stated that the Collins Aerospace system that is used by several airlines at airports worldwide for check-in and boarding systems is experiencing a technical issue.
Moreover, Brussels Airport and Berlin Airport, in separate statements, also confirmed that they were also hit by the cyberattack and are facing technical issues that an aviation and travel expert described as "a very clever cyberattack", as it has affected numerous airlines and flights at the same time.
Collins Aerospace’s parent company, RTX, said, “The impact is limited to electronic customer check-in and baggage drop and can be mitigated with manual check-in operations,” adding that it is working to fix the issue.
Brussels Airport on its website wrote that the cyberattack hit the system on Friday night.“This has a large impact on the flight schedule and will unfortunately cause delays and cancellations of flights… The service provider is actively working on the issue and trying to resolve the problem as quickly as possible.”
The airport has so far cancelled 10 flights, while the departing flights will have an average delay of at least an hour.
