Airports across Europe are gradually getting back to normal after a cyberattack threw check-in systems into chaos, grounding flights and leaving thousands of passengers stranded over the

weekend.

The disruption began late Friday, hitting major hubs in Brussels, London, and Berlin. Airline staff scrambled to keep things moving — in some cases, even handwriting boarding passes or pulling out spare laptops to process passengers. Other European airports managed to avoid the fallout.

Who was behind the attack remains a mystery. Experts say it could have been hackers, criminal groups, or even state-backed actors.

The attack targeted systems run by Collins Aerospace, a U.S.-based company that provides the software airlines use for check-in, printing boarding passes and bag tags, and handling luggage. Collins confirmed the incident Saturday, calling it a “cyber-related disruption” at select European airports.

By Sunday, things were slowly improving. Flight boards at London’s Heathrow and Berlin’s Brandenburg airports showed smoother arrivals and departures. But Brussels Airport was still struggling, with 45 outbound and 30 inbound flights canceled — nearly double the cancellations from the day before.

Brussels Airport spokesperson Ihsane Chioua Lekhli said the cyberattack only hit staffed check-in desks. Self-service kiosks still worked, and backup systems were helping, but the timeline for a full fix was uncertain. “For now, we have no idea on the timing — we’re taking it day by day,” she said.

Airports advised travelers to check their flight status before heading out and to use online or self-service check-in where possible. Heathrow apologized for the disruption but stressed that “the vast majority of flights have continued to operate.” Berlin’s Brandenburg airport posted a rolling update warning of long waits due to the system outage.

Collins, part of RTX Corp. (formerly Raytheon Technologies), said the impact was limited to electronic check-in and baggage drop and could be managed with manual workarounds.

The incident highlights just how vulnerable the aviation industry is to cyber threats. With airlines and airports increasingly dependent on interconnected systems, attacks like this are becoming more frequent. A recent report from French aerospace company Thales found cyberattacks on the aviation sector spiked by 600% between 2024 and 2025. Photo by jaydeep_, Wikimedia commons.