Passengers are facing another day of flight delays across Europe, as big airports continue to grapple with the aftermath of a cyber-attack on the company behind the software used for check-in and boarding.
Several of the largest airports in Europe, including London Heathrow, have been trying to restore normal operations over the past few days after an attack on Friday disrupted automatic check-in and boarding software.
The problem stemmed from Collins Aerospace, a software provider that works with several airlines across the world.
The company, which is a subsidiary of the US aerospace and defence company RTX, said on Monday that it was working with four affected airports and airline customers, and was in the final stages of completing the updates needed to restore full functionality.
The European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) said on Monday that Collins had suffered a ransomware attack. This is a type of cyber-attack where hackers in effect lock up the target’s data and systems in an attempt to secure a ransom.
Airports in Brussels, Dublin and Berlin have also experienced delays. While kiosks and bag-drop machines have been offline, airline staff have instead relied on manual processing.
A spokesperson for Brussels airport said Collins Aerospace had not yet confirmed the system was secure again. On Monday, 40 of its 277 departing flights and 23 of its 277 arriving services were cancelled.
A Heathrow spokesperson said 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”.
They added: “This system is not owned or operated by Heathrow, so while we cannot resolve the IT issue directly, we are supporting airlines and have additional colleagues in the terminals to assist passengers.”
Heathrow said passengers should check the status of their flight before travelling to the airport and to “arrive no earlier than three hours for long-haul flights and two hours for short-haul”.
A spokesperson for Dublin airport said it was not expecting any cancellations on Monday because of the IT problems, but would not rule it out. On Sunday, Aer Lingus said it was “significantly impacted” by the problem.
skip past newsletter promotion
Sign up to Business Today
Get set for the working day – we’ll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning
Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
after newsletter promotion
RTX said on Saturday it was working to fix the problem as soon as possible, and that the incident affected its Muse software.
The attack has highlighted the risks around airports’ reliance on suppliers for critical technology. The European Commission said on Saturday that it was closely monitoring the incident, and that “current signs do not indicate a widespread or severe attack”.
Shares in some airlines fell in early trading on Monday, including the British Airways owner IAG, which fell by 1.2%, while easyJet fell by 1.4% and Wizz Air by 1.1%.
The incident is the latest in a series of severe cyber-attacks. This month the British carmaker Jaguar Land Rover said a cyber incident forced it to freeze production, while earlier this year an attack on the retailer Marks & Spencer cost it hundreds of millions of pounds.
