New Delhi: Air travel across Europe faced a serious breakdown after a cyberattack hit passenger check-in systems for the second day in a row. The disruption caused long queues, delays, and large-scale cancellations, with Brussels Airport suffering the most. Nearly half of its flights on Monday were canceled, about 140 departures out of 276 scheduled.
The problems began late Friday when the check-in software used in major airports like Berlin, Brussels, and London suddenly stopped working. Airline staff had to switch to manual methods such as handwriting boarding passes, using backup laptops, and calling in extra teams. Online check-in and self-service kiosks were still available at some airports, but the scenes at ticket counters showed just how much chaos the failure had created.
Brussels Airport was under the greatest pressure, and despite adding more staff to handle the crisis, the scale of cancellations could not be avoided. Officials said that self-bag drop and online check-in services continued working, but that was not enough to keep operations normal.
Investigations revealed that the disruption came from systems managed by Collins Aerospace, a US-based company that provides the software used for printing boarding passes, baggage tags, and dispatching luggage. The company admitted that there had been a “cyber-related disruption” affecting computers at several European airports. Interestingly, self-service kiosks were not affected, which suggested that the attack was aimed at specific parts of the system.
Collins Aerospace’s parent company, RTX Corp., confirmed that safety and air traffic control were never at risk. They also assured that teams were working to solve the problem, but by Sunday, a secure software update was still missing. This forced Brussels Airport to ask airlines to cancel a large number of flights, leaving thousands of passengers stranded or delayed.
The big unanswered question is who carried out the cyberattack. Experts have not been able to trace the souzrce yet, and the list of possible culprits includes hackers, criminal groups, or even state-backed actors. For now, authorities have clarified that the issue has not spread to wider aviation systems and that air traffic across Europe remains safe.
Airports, meanwhile, are advising passengers to double-check their flight status before traveling and to make use of online check-in or self-service kiosks to avoid long waiting times. In Berlin, travelers were asked to rely on fast bag drop facilities, while London’s Heathrow managed to keep most flights on track by adding staff and resorting to manual processes.
By Sunday, some airports had begun to recover, but Brussels was still struggling to get back on its feet. The incident has shown how vulnerable modern aviation can be to cyberattacks. A single compromised software update was enough to shake up operations in multiple countries, proving that even one weak link can create a chain reaction across the sector.
For passengers, the best advice right now is to stay flexible, check updates regularly, and prepare for delays. For airlines and airports, however, this has become a wake-up call. Stronger cybersecurity and backup systems are no longer optional, they are essential for keeping one of the world’s most critical industries safe.
