Cyberattack Disrupts Check-Ins, Delays Hundreds of Flights at Heathrow and Other Airports

A cyber-related outage at Collins Aerospace forced manual check-ins, delaying hundreds of flights across Europe.

Emmanuella Madu
1 Min Read

Air travel across Europe was thrown into chaos this weekend after a cyber-related incident disrupted airline check-in systems at several major airports.

Heathrow, Brussels, and Berlin airports were among those affected after Collins Aerospace, which supplies technology for airline check-in desks, reported an apparent cyberattack. Airlines were forced to revert to manual check-ins, creating long lines and significant delays.

At London Heathrow, more than 130 flights were delayed by at least 20 minutes as of Sunday morning, according to Flightradar24. Thirteen flights were canceled on Saturday.

In a post on social media, Heathrow said:

“Work continues to resolve and recover from Friday’s outage of a Collins Aerospace airline system that impacted check-in. We apologise to those who have faced delays, but by working together with airlines, the vast majority of flights have continued to operate.”

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Airports have advised travelers to arrive three hours early for long-haul flights and at least two hours early for short-haul flights while recovery efforts continue.

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