Global Travel Grinds To A Halt! Cyberattack Disrupts Heathrow, Brussels, And Berlin Airports

Published on September 21, 2025

By: Paramita Sarkar

A cyberattack targeting nan check-in and boarding systems astatine respective awesome European airports has caused wide disruptions, affecting thousands of travelers. The incident, which occurred connected Saturday, 19th September 2025, crippled nan operations of immoderate of Europe’s busiest hubs, including Heathrow successful London, Brussels successful Belgium, and Berlin Brandenburg successful Germany. The attack, which targeted Collins Aerospace’s MUSE (Multi-User System Environment) software, disrupted important systems responsible for check-in, boarding, and baggage handling.

What Happened astatine Heathrow, Brussels, and Berlin?

The cyberattack began precocious connected Friday, 19th September, pinch Collins Aerospace’s MUSE package going offline. This strategy is captious for check-in kiosks, boarding passes, and baggage tagging astatine respective awesome airports. As a result, Heathrow, Brussels, and Berlin Brandenburg airports were forced to move to manual check-in and boarding procedures. At Heathrow, agelong queues snaked done terminals, frustrating passengers who were near stranded owed to delays.

Brussels Airport reported that nan cyberattack caused important disruption, pinch astatine slightest 9 flights cancelled, 15 delayed by complete an hour, and respective others redirected. Berlin Brandenburg Airport was besides affected, pinch delays spreading crossed departures arsenic passengers faced extended waiting times astatine check-in counters.

Who Is Responsible for nan Attack?

While nary group has claimed work for nan cyberattack, experts are pointing to imaginable motives ranging from ransomware attacks seeking financial summation to sabotage by criminal organizations aliases state-sponsored actors testing vulnerabilities. Collins Aerospace, nan institution down nan compromised system, acknowledged nan breach and confirmed they were actively moving to reconstruct functionality. However, nan afloat effect of nan onslaught continues to unfold, pinch authorities scrambling to investigate.

When Did nan Disruption Start and What Are nan Ongoing Effects?

The onslaught took spot connected nan nighttime of 19th September, and nan effects were instantly felt crossed aggregate European airports. While nan disruptions were initially expected to beryllium short-lived, passengers continued to look delays and cancellations into Sunday, 20th September, arsenic airports and airlines worked to reconstruct physics systems. At Heathrow Airport, though nary cancellations were straight linked to nan cyberattack, delays continued arsenic passengers were forced to acquisition manual check-in processes.

By Saturday morning, Brussels and Berlin airports reported important delays, pinch flights experiencing agelong waits for check-in and boarding. Brussels Airport confirmed that flights continued to beryllium affected by nan ongoing outage, pinch galore passengers facing vexation owed to nan deficiency of unit astatine counters. In immoderate cases, airlines had to rumor boarding passes manually, further exacerbating nan situation.

At Berlin Brandenburg Airport, passengers reported waiting for hours to cheque successful arsenic nan manual strategy struggled to support up pinch demand. Although nary flights were canceled owed to nan cyberattack by midday connected Saturday, nan airdrome officials warned that nan business could change.

Where Did nan Attack Hit nan Hardest?

Heathrow, Brussels, and Berlin Brandenburg airports were nan hardest deed by nan cyberattack. These awesome world hubs, handling thousands of passengers daily, were near pinch nary prime but to trust connected manual systems for check-in and baggage handling. Despite efforts to mitigate nan disruption, nan sheer measurement of affected passengers created chaos successful terminals.

While galore different European airports managed to run arsenic usual, nan reliance connected a shared third-party level for check-in and boarding systems exposed vulnerabilities successful nan aviation sector’s integer infrastructure. The centralized quality of MUSE meant that nan onslaught disrupted aggregate airports astatine once, underlining nan consequence of interconnected systems successful modern aviation.

Why Did This Attack Target nan Aviation Industry?

The aviation manufacture has agelong been a target for cybercriminals owed to its dense reliance connected third-party package and shared integer systems. Experts item that these systems, specified arsenic Collins Aerospace’s MUSE software, are integral to airdrome operations and are utilized by aggregate airlines and airports astatine once. Cyberattacks for illustration this 1 expose nan weaknesses successful shared infrastructure, making nan manufacture an charismatic target for hackers looking to origin wide disruption.

Cybersecurity experts pass that nan aviation sector’s reliance connected these centralized systems makes it susceptible to attacks that tin person far-reaching consequences. Charlotte Wilson, caput of endeavor astatine Check Point, emphasized that cyberattacks successful aviation often utilization nan proviso chain, targeting third-party vendors that work aggregate airlines and airports simultaneously.

How Did nan Airports Respond and What Can Passengers Do Now?

Check Flight Status Regularly
Passengers are urged to often cheque their formation statuses earlier heading to nan airdrome to enactment informed astir immoderate delays aliases cancellations.

Arrive Early

• Long-haul passengers astatine Heathrow should get 3 hours earlier departure.
• Domestic travelers are advised to get 2 hours successful beforehand to relationship for imaginable delays.

Use Online Check-in
Whenever possible, travelers should complete their check-in online to thief trim delays astatine nan airdrome and debar agelong queues.

Expect Delays and Cancellations
While airports and airlines are moving to reconstruct nan MUSE system, travelers should expect imaginable delays and cancellations complete nan coming days.

Allow Extra Time for Manual Check-in
Given nan reliance connected manual check-in systems, passengers should beryllium prepared for longer hold times and person further clip successful hand.

Stay Updated pinch Airport Announcements
Follow unrecorded updates and announcements from airdrome unit to guarantee you’re informed astir immoderate changes to your formation aliases check-in procedures.

The Larger Implications for Aviation Security

This cyberattack serves arsenic a wake-up telephone for nan aviation manufacture and governments astir nan world, highlighting nan urgent request to reassess information measures successful aviation infrastructure. Experts telephone for greater finance successful resilient systems that tin withstand specified cyber threats and minimize disruption during captious situations. Additionally, airlines and airports are being urged to measure their reliance connected third-party vendors and bolster their ain cybersecurity defences.

The onslaught has besides led to accrued scrutiny of nan vulnerability of centralized integer systems successful aviation, and calls for much robust backup systems to guarantee nan soft cognition of airports during crises. Governments and regulatory bodies whitethorn soon instrumentality stricter guidelines and measures to unafraid aviation infrastructure, pinch nan dream of preventing akin incidents from occurring successful nan future.

A stark reminder

The cyberattack connected Heathrow, Brussels, and Berlin airports serves arsenic a stark reminder of nan vulnerabilities successful nan aviation sector’s integer infrastructure. While operations are slow returning to normal, nan disruption exposed superior weaknesses successful nan reliance connected third-party platforms for illustration MUSE. As nan investigation continues, passengers are urged to stay vigilant and enactment updated pinch nan latest information. For nan aviation industry, nan onslaught signals a captious request for strengthened cybersecurity measures to safeguard against early threats.