Disruptions continued for a fourth day at major European airports on Monday morning after a cyberattack on a third-party system that handles check-in and boarding systems.
The European Union Agency for Cybersecurity said on Monday that disruption had been caused by a ransomware attack. Laura Heuvinck, a spokeswoman for the organization, said in an interview on Monday that she did not yet have more details about the episode, and that it was still unclear who was behind it.
At Brussels Airport, which appeared to have been most affected by the disruption, “the vast majority of flights today can be operated,” Ihsane Chioua Lekhli, a spokeswoman for the airport, said in an email on Monday. At least 40 of 277 departing flights scheduled for Monday had been canceled in Brussels, and 23 of 277 arriving flights, she added.
The airport was still experiencing problems with the check-in process. “It is not yet clear when we will be able to switch back to the normal check-in and boarding system,” Ms. Lekhli said.
At least three other airports — Berlin-Brandenburg, Dublin and Heathrow near London — said that the cyberattack had hindered their check-in and boarding processes. Berlin’s airport said in a statement that the cyberattack had taken place on Friday evening.
Brussels and other affected airports said the disruptions had been caused by a cyberattack on Collins Aerospace, an American company based in Iowa that provides check-in and boarding systems.
RTX, the company’s corporate parent, did not respond to requests for comment on Sunday. In a statement on Saturday, RTX said that the attack had interfered with its systems at some airports and that it was working to restore “full functionality to our customers as quickly as possible.” Airports could work around the issue by switching to manual check-ins, RTX added.
Brussels Airport said that the cyberattack had “heavily disrupted” its operations over the weekend, forcing the airport to rely on manual processes for check-ins and boarding.
It was not immediately clear how widespread the disruptions were on Monday. Heathrow Airport — London’s biggest — said in an emailed statement on Monday morning that “the vast majority of flights at Heathrow are operating as normal, although check-in and boarding for some flights may take slightly longer than usual.”
RTX said in its statement on Saturday that the problem was affecting its MUSE software, a passenger-processing system that Collins supports and that is used by about 300 airlines at 100 airports.
“The impact is limited to electronic customer check-in and baggage drop,” RTX said.
This disruption is the latest in a string of cyberattacks that have targeted major airports and institutions. Last December, a cyberattack on Japan Airlines caused delays to both domestic and international flights. In June, Columbia University said a “hacktivist” conducted a sophisticated cyberattack that caused a widespread shutdown of the university’s computer systems, and stole student data with the apparent goal of furthering a political agenda.
Johnny Diaz contributed reporting.
Claire Moses is a Times reporter in London, focused on coverage of breaking and trending news.
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