An EU cybersecurity agency confirms that a ransomware attack disrupted airport check-in systems across major European hubs, underscoring the growing risk that malicious software poses to critical infrastructure and the aviation sector. The incident affected automated checks at several of Europe’s busiest airports, with knock-on effects for dozens of flights and thousands of passengers as the week began. Authorities said law enforcement was involved in the investigation, but the origin of the attack was not disclosed. The disruption intensified as airports continued to grapple with restoration efforts, while authorities and industry players emphasized the need for heightened resilience against increasingly visible but not necessarily more frequent ransomware campaigns.
What ENISA Confirmed and What It Means for Europe’s Critical Infrastructure
The European Union Agency for Cybersecurity, known as ENISA, issued a formal statement indicating that the disruptions to airport check-in systems were caused by ransomware, a form of malicious software that locks up data and systems until the victim pays to regain access. This confirmation marked a crucial moment in understanding the scale and intent behind the disruptions, moving discussions beyond speculative causes to a clear attribution to a ransomware operation.
ENISA characterized ransomware as a tactic that targets critical infrastructure and high-profile organizations, drawing attention to the broader implications for public safety, economic activity, and travel reliability. While the agency did not identify the ransomware strain, the tactic—encryption of data and denial of access—was presented as the core mechanism disrupting check-in workflows. The agency’s statement also highlighted that law enforcement agencies were actively involved in investigating the incident, signaling a cross-border, coordinated response typical of cybercrime cases that affect multiple nations and sectors.
The confirmation by ENISA is significant for several reasons. First, it formalizes a cross-sector threat: aviation services rely on automated and often outsourced digital components, including check-in platforms, baggage handling, and passenger verification systems. When those components are compromised, the ripple effects extend from a single airport to a network of hubs and routes, affecting millions of travelers and cascading into airline schedules, ground transport, and airport operations. Second, ENISA’s involvement underscores the EU’s strategic focus on strengthening resilience in critical infrastructure against ransomware, a trend that has gained urgency amid growing cyber risk awareness a few years into the current decade. Finally, the admission of a ransomware-based cause provides policymakers, security professionals, and industry operators with a more concrete basis for evaluating defense measures, response protocols, and future investment in cyber hygiene, incident response, and rapid recovery.
In the wake of the ENISA confirmation, industry observers noted that the incident fits a broader pattern: attackers increasingly set their sights on high-profile targets whose disruption reverberates beyond a single organization. The aim, according to several security experts, is to maximize the attention, pressure, and potential ransom consideration that such disruptions can generate. The widespread attention given to incidents involving consumer brands, manufacturing giants, and transportation networks has pushed ransomware into the limelight, shaping public discourse and policy debates around cyber risk, preparedness, and the allocation of resources for defense. However, as the risk environment evolves, experts caution that visibility of attacks does not automatically translate into higher frequency; rather, it reflects a shift toward more conspicuous, disruptive events that can destabilize essential operations when defenses are tested.
In this context, ENISA’s assessment aligns with earlier industry analyses that warn of ransomware’s potential to disrupt public services and critical infrastructure, including air travel. It also dovetails with prior alerts noting that attackers target sectors where downtime translates into significant economic and reputational impact. The EU agency’s findings set the stage for ongoing coordination between member states, aviation regulators, airport operators, and equipment vendors as they work to restore normal operations, bolster detection capabilities, and refine incident response playbooks for future incidents. The overarching takeaway is a renewed emphasis on resilience—ensuring that essential travel services can withstand, detect, and recover quickly from cyber disruptions, even when attackers exploit complex, interconnected systems.
Impacts on Airports and Daily Operations Across Europe
The disruptions reverberated across Europe’s aviation network, with several of the continent’s largest airports contending with partial or ongoing outages to automated check-in systems. The immediate consequence was a slowdown in passenger processing, cancellations, and delays that affected thousands of travelers since the previous Friday, according to airport and airline communications and those observing the situation.
At the core of the operational impact was the outage of automated check-in platforms provided by Collins Aerospace, a unit of RTX. The vendor’s software and hardware interface with airport check-in workflows is a backbone for passenger processing, identity verification, and boarding logistics. When these systems falter, even temporarily, airports must pivot to manual procedures, increasing the demand on staff, opening the door to longer queuing times, and heightening the potential for human error. The disruption also has downstream consequences for baggage handling, security flows, and gate assignments, all of which can cascade into schedule integrity and on-time performance.
Brussels Airport, Brussels, and London Heathrow, as Europe’s busiest gateway nodes, reported being among the affected sites. Heathrow, in particular, has immense passenger throughput, and any disruption to check-in can ripple through the entire airport ecosystem, including security screening lanes, baggage loading, and aircraft turnaround times. In parallel, Berlin’s facility faced higher passenger numbers temporarily—compounded by the Berlin Marathon—straining operations further as staff managed the partial lack of automated check-in capabilities.
Across these hubs, the immediate workaround involved shifting to manual check-in processes. Airports and airline staff relied on handwritten or printed cues and alternative verification methods to continue onboarding passengers. Passengers reported that the process could resemble the early era of commercial air travel, with a noticeable departure from fully digital experiences. The shift to manual check-in and boarding introduced longer lines, more visible bottlenecks at counters, and a greater reliance on paper documentation and human oversight.
Brussels Airport publicly indicated it was using a mix of iPads and laptops to facilitate check-ins as the automated system remained offline. In terms of flight operations, roughly 550 flights were cataloged as either departing or arriving on Monday in the Brussels network, with approximately 60 flights experiencing cancellations that day directly linked to the disruption in automated check-in capabilities. Dublin Airport described its own experience as having “minimal impact,” with some manual processes in place to manage the flow of passengers and transactions while restoration efforts continued. Berlin’s airport reported similar challenges in meeting demand and maintaining schedule integrity, driven in part by broader traffic volumes and the high passenger load associated with a marathon event.
The passenger experience during these disruptions was notably affected. Witness accounts illustrated a scenario where normal digital self-service options were unavailable, pushing travelers to engage with traditional, low-tech processes. Some travelers faced longer lines and more time spent at check-in desks, while others described boarding as requiring handwritten passes or alternative forms of verification. In addition to check-in interruptions, some passengers encountered delays during security screening and bag drop operations, compounding the stress associated with travel in a busy airport environment. The overall consumer experience, typically characterized by speed and efficiency, was significantly altered by the outage, highlighting how reliant modern travel infrastructure has become on automated, digitally managed processes.
At the same time, airports and airlines mobilized incident response teams to triage the crisis. Collins Aerospace publicly stated it was actively collaborating with the affected airports to implement updates and restore full functionality. The process of restoring normal operations involved software patches, system hardening, and verification steps to ensure that any residual vulnerabilities were addressed before systems were brought back online. Airports also began to implement contingency measures, such as increasing staff presence at check-in counters, reconfiguring passenger flow to reduce congestion at terminals, and prioritizing high-traffic departure windows to minimize disruption.
The broader aviation ecosystem monitored the situation closely, given the potential for cascading effects on flight schedules, passenger transfers, and downstream travel arrangements. Airlines faced the challenge of managing reservations, rebookings, and customer communications while the underlying systems were in flux. Travel planners and tour operators who rely on timely data feeds from airline and airport systems were compelled to adjust operational plans and inform customers of potential delays. The disruption also underscored the importance of robust business continuity planning, including redundant systems for critical processes, manual fallback procedures, and clear escalation channels to coordinate across multiple stakeholders.
In summary, the disruption to automated check-in systems presented a multifaceted challenge for Europe’s air travel network. The combination of a ransomware attack, vendor dependencies, and the high operational tempo of major airports created a complex tapestry of consequences that extended beyond the gates to the broader travel ecosystem, affecting airline operations, airport services, and passenger satisfaction in real time. The path to restoration required a coordinated, multi-pronged approach that balanced the urgency of returning to digital-normal operations with the need to ensure security, resilience, and long-term risk reduction.
Corporate and Technical Response: Updates, Recovery, and Collaboration
Collins Aerospace indicated that it was actively engaging with the affected airports to support the restoration process and finalize updates designed to restore full functionality to the compromised check-in workflows. The company’s role in supplying check-in technology and related software tools places it at a central point in the recovery effort, as airport IT teams and airline operations rely on such platforms to streamline passenger processing and ensure secure, accurate identity verification. Recovery efforts typically involve deploying software patches, validating the integrity of system components, performing comprehensive remediation to remove residual threats, and conducting integrity checks to prevent reoccurrence of the vulnerability.
The collaboration between Collins Aerospace and the impacted airports encompassed ongoing technical support, configuration adjustments, and verification steps that are essential to reestablish a stable, secure check-in environment. Airport operators coordinated with the vendor to schedule software updates, test new configurations in controlled environments, and monitor system performance as services transitioned from offline or degraded modes back toward normal operation. This collaborative approach is critical in complex, multi-vendor environments where interoperability and compatibility across components determine the speed and reliability of restoration.
In parallel, airport authorities and airline operators engaged in operational planning to mitigate the disruption’s impact on passenger flow. Prioritized efforts focused on stabilizing the most critical components of the passenger journey—check-in, bag drop, security screening, and boarding—while maintaining safety and regulatory compliance. The restoration process also emphasized resilience enhancements to reduce the likelihood of future outages, including improvements to authentication mechanisms, data integrity checks, and network segmentation to limit the spread of any potential compromise.
The incidents also highlighted the importance of incident response and disaster recovery planning. Airports noted the value of having predefined playbooks for cyber incidents that involve essential passenger services. These playbooks typically outline roles and responsibilities, escalation paths, communication protocols, and decision-making criteria to ensure swift containment, accurate status reporting, and consistent messaging to travelers. As the industry increasingly relies on automation and interconnected systems, such playbooks become even more vital in ensuring a prompt, coordinated, and transparent response to cyber disruptions.
Beyond the immediate operational recovery, the episode raised questions about supply chain risk and vendor dependency. Airports and airlines often rely on a network of contractors and software providers to deliver critical functionality. The incident underscored the need for rigorous security assurances across the supply chain, including secure software development practices, vulnerability management, and ongoing monitoring of third-party components. In the wake of the event, aviation stakeholders may pursue enhancements to supplier risk management, including contractual obligations around incident reporting, security testing, and prompt remediation measures to minimize the potential impact of a cyberattack on essential services.
As restoration proceeds, the focus remains on returning to baseline performance while strengthening defenses to reduce future exposure. Security teams are likely to conduct post-incident reviews, identify gaps in process and technology, and implement lessons learned to bolster resilience. The incident could catalyze a broader, sector-wide effort to standardize cyber risk management practices for critical infrastructure, with the aim of reducing downtime, improving response times, and enhancing public confidence in the security and reliability of air travel services.
Threat Landscape, Expert Insight, and the Visibility of Ransomware Attacks
In assessing the trajectory of ransomware threats, security professionals have observed that high-profile victims tend to attract more attention, which appears to correlate with an uptick in the number of attempts targeting such entities. This dynamic has been noted by Rafe Pilling, director of threat intelligence at the British cybersecurity firm Sophos. He suggested that while there could be more attempts aimed at prominent targets due to the increased visibility and potential impact, the overall frequency of attacks is not necessarily rising in tandem. He cautioned that disruptive, large-scale events spilling into the physical world remain the exception rather than the rule, even as attention to these events grows.
Pilling’s assessment aligns with broader industry observations that ransomware campaigns often prioritize notoriety and leverage media attention to pressurize victims into paying ransoms or to demonstrate the attackers’ capabilities to potential future targets. The emphasis on visibility does not automatically equate to a proportional rise in attack frequency; rather, it reflects how certain incidents become emblematic of the broader threat landscape, shaping corporate risk perceptions and public policy discussions. In this context, the friction between perceived risk and actual frequency becomes an important consideration for both defenders and decision-makers as they allocate resources and prioritize defenses.
The landscape also includes surveys and industry data that illuminate how widespread ransomware has become among businesses, especially as economies digitize further. A recent survey of approximately 1,000 companies conducted by the German industry group Bitkom indicated that ransomware remains a leading form of cyberattack. The survey found that one in seven companies had paid a ransom, highlighting the real economic and operational pressures that organizations face when confronted with such incidents. This data underscores the persistent challenge for businesses to protect sensitive data, maintain continuity, and manage the financial implications of cyber extortion.
In aviation, the stakes are particularly high because downtime reverberates across multiple stakeholders, including passengers, airlines, ground handlers, and regulatory bodies. The disruption to automated check-in at multiple prominent airports demonstrates how a single attack on a technology provider or a central processing system can disrupt a broad segment of the travel ecosystem. The incident reinforces the need for robust cyber defense in the aviation sector, including layered security, rapid detection, segmentation of critical networks, and resilient recovery capabilities. It also highlights the importance of clear, consistent communication with travelers and stakeholders during periods of uncertainty, to maintain confidence and minimize disruption.
As the threat environment continues to evolve, industry participants advocate for proactive measures that enhance resilience. Recommendations commonly discussed among security experts include the deployment of redundant systems for essential passenger processes, offline processing capabilities to sustain operations during an outage, and comprehensive backup and recovery plans that enable fast restoration of critical services. Additionally, continued investment in threat intelligence, vulnerability management, and employee training is seen as central to strengthening defenses against ransomware. The convergence of these elements—technology, people, and processes—constitutes the foundation for a more resilient aviation sector less susceptible to prolonged outages and costly disruptions caused by cyber threats.
Industry Perspective: Pandemic-Era Lessons, Resilience, and Future Preparedness
The broader industry discussion around ransomware and critical infrastructure resilience draws on lessons learned from earlier periods of heightened cyber activity and evolving threat vectors. The aviation sector, which relies on a vast and distributed network of suppliers, service providers, and technology platforms, has increasingly prioritized cyber risk management as a core component of safety and reliability. The incident at European airports serves as a concrete example of how ransomware can interfere with mission-critical processes, prompting operators to revisit and reinforce their defensive postures, incident response protocols, and business continuity planning.
A central theme in these discussions is the importance of cross-organizational coordination and information sharing. When cyber incidents affect multiple airports and service providers across borders, rapid collaboration among airlines, equipment manufacturers, technology vendors, and regulators becomes essential. Establishing clear channels for threat intelligence exchange, coordinated incident response, and synchronized recovery activities reduces the time to containment and restoration, thereby minimizing passenger disruption and financial losses. The aviation sector’s experience with ransomware underscores the value of joint preparedness exercises and simulations that stress-test response mechanisms under realistic conditions.
From a policy standpoint, the incident contributes to ongoing debates about how governments and the private sector should invest in cyber resilience. Policymakers are weighing the benefits of stricter cybersecurity standards, mandatory reporting of cyber incidents, and incentives for organizations to adopt state-of-the-art security controls. In parallel, aviation regulators are examining how to align resilience requirements with the need for operational efficiency, ensuring that safety-critical processes maintain high reliability even in the face of cyber threats. The balance between rigorous security measures and the practical realities of high-volume travel requires thoughtful policy design, stakeholder engagement, and continuous adaptation to emerging threats.
The human element remains a critical factor in cyber resilience. Desktop and frontline staff who operate check-in consoles, baggage systems, and security checkpoints play an indispensable role during a disruptive event. Training staff to recognize anomalies, follow established escalation procedures, and communicate effectively with passengers can dramatically influence the impact of an outage on travelers’ experiences. Ongoing education and drills help ensure that teams are prepared to respond rapidly and calmly when automatic systems fail, reducing confusion, delays, and the risk of security gaps during transitions to manual processing.
In addition to internal defense enhancements, the incident has implications for supplier risk management. Airports and airlines rely on a complex ecosystem of vendors, from software providers to hardware integrators. Strengthening vendor risk management entails more robust security requirements in contracts, clearer accountability for incident response, and more rigorous security assessments of third-party products and services. The aim is to prevent a single weak link from triggering a broader disruption and to ensure that any vulnerabilities discovered in one component do not compromise the entire operational chain. This approach aligns with best practices in cyber resilience, emphasizing not only preventive measures but also robust response strategies and rapid recovery capabilities.
As the industry moves forward, the focus remains on translating incident-driven insights into practical improvements. This means translating high-level lessons into concrete changes in technology deployment, process design, and organizational culture. It also means maintaining a vigilant posture to detect previously unseen attack vectors, while building redundancy and flexibility into essential passenger services to withstand cyber shocks. The overarching objective is to ensure that Europe’s airports and aviation network remain reliable, secure, and capable of delivering a smooth travel experience even in the face of sophisticated cyber threats.
Regional Snapshot: From Berlin to Brussels—Operational Realities During the Disruption
The incident unfolded across several key European hubs, each with its own operational context, passenger volume, and resilience capabilities. Berlin, Brussels, London Heathrow, and Dublin each faced distinct challenges as they navigated the ransomware-induced outage of automated check-in services and the subsequent transition to manual workflows. The regional differences in traffic patterns, airport layouts, and staffing levels created a mosaic of responses, highlighting the heterogeneous nature of resilience across Europe’s aviation landscape.
In Berlin, heightened passenger demand linked to the Berlin Marathon amplified the pressure on terminal operations. The city’s airport faced delays that extended beyond typical expectations as manual processing and alternative verification methods were employed to manage ongoing passenger traffic. The experience underscored how concurrent events can complicate incident response, as routine travel volumes intersect with episodic surges in demand tied to special events. In such scenarios, airports must adapt quickly by reallocating staff, reorganizing passenger flows, and coordinating with ground transportation networks to minimize disruption.
Brussels, as a central hub for European air transit, took a particularly visible hit due to the disruption of automated check-in functions. The airport’s workaround involved leveraging iPads and laptops to accommodate passenger check-ins while the faulty systems were being restored. This approach demonstrates the importance of flexible tooling and a ready-to-deploy fallback plan that can sustain passenger processing when primary platforms are offline. The aviation ecosystem around Brussels also illustrates how a single, high-visibility incident can affect not only passenger throughput but also flight cancellations, gate assignments, and the broader operational rhythm of a major international airport.
London Heathrow, one of the world’s busiest airports, faced its own set of challenges in the wake of the outage. The disruption to automated check-in processes threatened to cascade into longer waiting times, more complex crowd management, and potential impacts on flight schedule adherence. Given Heathrow’s scale and complexity, the restoration process required a coordinated effort across multiple teams, including IT staff, airline operations, security personnel, and third-party service providers. The airport’s resilience plan would have prioritized preserving core passenger services, maintaining safety, and restoring digital efficiency as swiftly as possible to minimize cascading delays and passenger frustration.
Dublin Airport reported a relatively more contained impact, described as minimal, with some manual processes in place. This suggests that while the disruption was nationwide in scope to varying degrees, not all airports experienced the same level of disruption. The degree of impact depends on factors such as reliance on automated check-in, local contingency measures, and the ability to pivot to alternative processing methods without compromising security or safety.
Across these regional snapshots, a consistent theme emerged: the need for robust contingency planning, agile operational responses, and rapid collaboration among airports, airlines, equipment vendors, and regulators. The incident provided a real-world stress test of Europe’s aviation resilience, illustrating both vulnerabilities and effective coping mechanisms in the face of cyber disruption. It also highlighted the value of having multiple channels to restore services quickly, including offline processing capabilities, a ready supply of manual alternatives, and clear, timely communication with passengers about delays, rebooking options, and the status of the restoration.
Conclusion
The confirmation by ENISA that a ransomware attack disrupted airport check-in systems across Europe reveals a clear and urgent threat to the aviation sector’s operational integrity. The incident, involving major hubs such as Brussels and London Heathrow, and affecting multiple cities, underscores the critical importance of robust cyber defenses, rapid incident response, and resilient contingency planning for essential transportation infrastructure. The alliance between airport operators, equipment vendors like Collins Aerospace, and law enforcement illustrates the multi-layered approach required to detect, contain, and recover from sophisticated cyber threats.
As aviation stakeholders work to restore full functionality, they are also prioritizing long-term resilience by strengthening security postures, refining vendor risk management, and investing in redundancy and rapid recovery capabilities. The event serves as a stark reminder that digital dependencies in modern travel networks must be safeguarded through proactive measures, continuous monitoring, and robust contingency frameworks. The broader implications extend beyond aviation, reinforcing a strategic imperative for national and European policymakers to support resilient infrastructure, data protection, and effective collaboration between public authorities and the private sector in the ongoing fight against ransomware and other cyber threats. The overarching goal remains clear: to ensure that critical services—including the movement of people and goods—remain reliable and secure, even as adversaries seek to disrupt them.
