Collins Aerospace ‘cyber attack’ latest in series of incidents at UK airports

Thousands of passengers have faced disruption at UK airports in the past six months following a series of technical glitches and power issues.

The latest disruption, caused by an alleged cyber attack affecting Collins Aerospace, led to cancellations and delays at London Heathrow Airport on Saturday.

Brussels and Berlin airports are also experiencing delays and disruption following the “technical issue” affecting the service provider for check-in and boarding systems – which works for several airlines at multiple airports across the world.

Long queues formed at the check-in area of Heathrow Terminal 4, while airport staff attempted to manage the snaking queues, with many passengers sitting on the floor in the crowded terminal.

The incident is the latest in a series that have affected UK airports since the start of the year.

Thousands of passengers trying to fly both in and out of the country faced major disruption on Wednesday July 30 after air traffic control (ATC) provider Nats was hit by a technical glitch.

More than 150 flights – 84 departures and 71 arrivals – were cancelled in airports across the UK, with the highest number of cancellations at London’s Heathrow Airport.

A number of inbound flights were also diverted to European cities as a result of the glitch, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.

Passengers at Stansted Airport also faced long delays and disruption on Sunday May 11 after an IT glitch caused some of the airport’s systems to fail.

The malfunction affected check-in, baggage, and security, with engineers investigating the source of the IT problem saying it may have been related to the systems’ internet access.

On Friday March 21, more than 270,000 air passenger journeys were disrupted by Heathrow airport’s closure following a fire at a nearby electrical substation.

Some 234,000 passengers booked to fly to or from Heathrow that day had their flight cancelled, diverted or delayed when the airport suffered a power outage because of a blaze at the substation in Hayes, aviation industry statistics seen by the PA news agency have showed.

No flights were permitted at the airport on that day until around 6pm.

A further 36,500 people hoping to travel the following day were affected when 74 flights, 6.1% of the total scheduled, were cancelled.

Collins Aerospace said on Saturday it is working to resolve the ongoing issue as soon as possible.

“We have become aware of a cyber-related disruption to our Muse (multi-user system environment) software in select airports,” the provider said in a statement.

“We are actively working to resolve the issue and restore full functionality to our customers as quickly as possible.

“The impact is limited to electronic customer check-in and baggage drop and can be mitigated with manual check-in operations.”

London Heathrow said passengers should check their flight status before travelling to the west London airport.

In their statement to passengers, Brussels Airport said the disruption was caused by a cyber attack which took place on Friday night, adding: “This means that at the moment only manual check-in and boarding is possible.

“This has a large impact on the flight schedule and will unfortunately cause delays and cancellations of flights.”

A statement on the Berlin Airport website said there are longer waiting times at check-in.