A major cyberattack has targeted several major European airports, inflicting serious travel havoc for passengers with thousands of delayed and canceled flights. The incident mainly targeted Brussels International Airport, London’s Heathrow and Berlin Airport, heavily impacting global air traffic during the weekend.
That cyberattack had hit an aviation technology company, a subsidiary of RTX, formerly called Raytheon. The breach led to major misoperations in the check-in and boarding systems. As a consequence, Brussels Airport required airlines to annul at least 50% of their planned departing flights on Sunday. Almost all outgoing flights from Brussels were delayed by several hours. On top of that, the airport experienced at least four diversions of flights.
Dublin Airport and Cork Airport in Ireland were reportedly only slightly affected by the incident. In sharp contrast, other big hubs like Heathrow and Berlin were dealing with huge meltdowns. As a result, dozens of flight departures and arrivals were cancelled at these major airports, demonstrating the wide impact of the attack.
According to Rafe Pilling, director of threat intelligence at Sophos, the implications of this attack are beyond critical. He highlighted the vulnerability of the aviation sector, noting that “the fragile and interdependent nature of the digital ecosystem underpinning air travel” makes it susceptible to such incidents. He further explained that “from airlines and airports to navigation systems and suppliers, every link in the chain is vulnerable to attack.”
Anita Mendiratta is a special adviser to the UN Secretary-General on tourism. She emphasized the challenge of ascertaining the actors responsible for this attack. She emphasized that it was “a disruption caused to a software not a specific airport,” indicating the broader implications of targeting aviation technology rather than individual locations.
Yet the aviation sector is increasingly under threat from debilitating cyberattacks. A recent Thales report shows a shocking 600 percent growth in these attacks between 2024 and 2025. Pilling acknowledged this alarming trend, stating, “We’ve seen huge impact across retail and currently automotive in the UK this year. The threat is significant and very real.”
The damage at Brussels Airport has already caused significant disruption and that’s unlikely to change for the rest of the weekend as authorities try to return normal operations. Travelers should continue to check with their airlines to determine the status of their flights, which could be impacted by weather-related delays.
