(Commonwealth_Europe) Air travelers across Europe are enduring another day of frustration as airports, including Heathrow, Brussels, and Berlin, continue to grapple with the fallout of a cyberattack that knocked out a key check-in and baggage system. Beginning on Saturday, the disruption has left airlines struggling to maintain flight operations, often resorting to manual passenger processing.
At Heathrow, extra staff were deployed to help manage long queues as nearly half of Saturday’s flights departed late. The repercussions are evident despite the airport’s apology and insistence that the majority of flights continue to operate. Flight data indicates that Sunday has already seen more cancellations than Saturday. Despite British Airways‘ ability to maintain operations through a backup system, the impact on other airlines was significantly greater.
In Brussels, the situation was even more severe. Airport officials urged airlines to cancel half of their flights and warned travelers to expect long delays. As staff struggled to keep passengers moving, they scrapped more than 40 flights by Sunday. Eurocontrol, which oversees Europe’s air traffic management, asked airlines to halve their schedules to and from Brussels until early Monday morning.
For passengers caught in the middle, the ordeal has been exhausting. Naomi Rowan, who was moving from Suffolk to Costa Rica with her dog Dusty, found herself stranded in a Heathrow hotel instead. Her Air France flight was grounded on Saturday, and while staff were checking in passengers by hand, they told her they could not board Dusty without the electronic system. “I cried, booked a hotel, and managed to get through to Air France on WhatsApp, who said the next available flight for me is Monday,” she said.
Dublin Airport said that while some airlines were still checking in passengers manually, it expected to operate a full schedule on Sunday. Cork Airport, which is under the same parent company, reported no issues. Berlin Brandenburg Airport urged travelers to use online or self-service check-in and reported relatively minor delays, with only a dozen cancellations. EasyJet and Ryanair reported no disruption to their services.
The disruption has been traced to Muse, a system provided by Collins Aerospace that allows multiple airlines to share check-in desks and boarding gates at airports. The company, owned by RTX, confirmed the issue was linked to a “cyber-related disruption” but has not revealed details about the attack or how long it might take to resolve. Officials at the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre said they were working with airports, Collins Aerospace, and law enforcement to fully understand the impact.
The European Commission is closely monitoring the situation but has stressed that there is no sign of the incident being widespread or severe. UK Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander has also been receiving regular updates.
For passengers, though, the reassurances do little to ease the stress of cancelled holidays, missed connections, and unexpected expenses. The incident has also reignited concerns about how dependent the aviation industry has become on digital systems, just two months after a faulty software update by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike caused a global IT crash that grounded flights across the US.
This latest disruption serves as a reminder that the smooth operation of modern air travel relies on a fragile network of systems, which, if knocked offline, can quickly halt airport operations and disrupt the plans of thousands of passengers.
