Several european airports faced a second day of disruptions on Sunday following a cyberattack that targeted Collins Aerospace, a company providing check-in technology.

Heathrow, teh U.K.’s largest airport, along with airports in Berlin and Brussels, experienced important issues. Brussels Airport anticipated continued heavy disruption and flight cancellations throughout Sunday due to the cyberattack.

What Sparked the Airport Chaos?

According to a statement posted on X by Heathrow Airport, Collins Aerospace “provides check-in and boarding systems for several airlines across multiple airports globally.”

RTX, the parent company of Collins, acknowledged the “cyber-related disruption” to its MUSE software in a statement to Reuters. The company, formerly known as Raytheon Technologies, stated that the impact was limited to electronic customer check-in and baggage drop, which could be managed through manual check-in procedures. RTX is actively working to resolve the issue.

🔶TARGET_SITE has reached out to RTX for additional comments and is awaiting their response.

“Cyberattacks rarely stop at national borders, so the faster one country can identify and report an attack, the faster others can take action to contain it.”

Which Airports Felt the Impact?

Cirium, an aviation analytics provider, reported to 🔶TARGET_SITE that, as of 10 a.m. London time on Sunday, 38 departures and 33 arrivals had been canceled across Heathrow, Berlin, and Brussels. On Saturday,ther were 35 departures and 25 arrivals canceled,with Brussels experiencing the highest number of cancellations at 15.

All three airports released updated statements on Sunday.Heathrow stated they were working to “resolve and recover” from the Collins outage that affected check-in processes.

Heathrow stated on X: “We apologise to those who have faced delays,but by working together with airlines,the vast majority of flights have continued to operate. We encourage passengers to check the status of their flight before travelling to Heathrow and to arrive no earlier than three hours for long-haul flights and two hours for short-haul.”

Brussels Airport announced on its website that the cyberattack was significantly impacting the flight schedule, causing delays and cancellations. Travelers were advised to check their flight status before heading to the airport.

Berlin alerted travelers to expect longer waiting times due to a “systems outage at a service provider.”

Dublin Airport also experienced effects but anticipated running a full schedule on Sunday. The airport noted that some airlines in Terminal 2 were using manual workarounds for bag tags and boarding passes, potentially causing slightly longer check-in and bag drop times.

Aviation Industry Under Scrutiny

The cyberattack on Collins Aerospace is the latest in a string of cybersecurity incidents making headlines. Jaguar Land Rover recently extended a pause in production until Sept. 24 following a cyberattack. The company stated that the decision was made as the forensic investigation continued and as they considered the controlled restart of global operations.

Earlier this year, British retailer Marks & Spencer reported that a cyberattack would wipe out nearly one-third of its annual profits.

Charlotte Wilson, head of enterprise at Check Point, emphasized the aviation industry’s vulnerability due to its reliance on shared digital systems. She explained that these attacks often exploit third-party platforms used by multiple airlines and airports, causing widespread disruption when one vendor is compromised.

Wilson recommended that aviation companies regularly update software systems and implement well-tested backup systems to improve resilience. She also advocated for enhanced details-sharing between technology providers, airlines, and governments. Wilson asserted that a collaborative defense strategy would be more effective than isolated responses, given that cyberattacks rarely respect national borders.