A cyberattack jolted Europe’s travel scene early Saturday, leaving airports scrambling and passengers anxious.
At Heathrow, Brussels, and Berlin, check-in monitors flickered out, and flights were grounded. It wasn’t business as usual as lines snaked across terminals while airport staff scrambled to figure out workarounds.
The trouble came out of nowhere, hitting just as the weekend rush began. Travellers found themselves stranded, some sleeping on bags or stuck in endless lines. Officials quickly admitted that the outage wasn’t just a technical glitch.
Officials described the incident as a full-blown cyberattack, with no clear timeline yet for when normal operations would resume.
Chaos in terminals: What authorities said
At Heathrow, the departure boards lit up with urgent warnings. Staff faced a tough challenge switching to manual check-ins and boarding.
Lines stretched longer than usual, passengers showed frustration, and airport employees worked overtime trying to keep things moving.
Heathrow advised travelers to arrive no earlier than three hours before long-haul flights and two hours before domestic ones as an attempt to ease terminal congestion.
Extra staff were deployed to help manage crowds and keep passengers informed. Despite best efforts, officials admitted the situation was “unprecedented” and the full impact of the attack was still unfolding.
Berlin’s airport also issued warnings, acknowledging a “technical issue” at a system provider affecting check-in times during a busy travel day.
The airport encouraged patience and communication, saying its teams were working hard to restore normal operations.
On social media, passengers shared photos of crowded terminals and expressed frustration but also praised staff for their calm handling of the chaos.
A spokesperson from both airports stressed that the attack targeted a third-party company, not the airports themselves, but the fallout was deeply felt across Europe’s travel network.
Cyberattacks: A growing problem
This isn’t Europe’s first brush with cyber trouble. In recent years, hackers have targeted airlines and airports, seeking big paydays or trying to expose system flaws.
Back in 2018, British Airways fought off a major attack. Two years ago, airports in Spain and Poland faced ransomware threats.
In the US, the Colonial Pipeline hack shut down energy supplies and sent a chill through security circles.
Each time, the worry grows: are travel networks strong enough to resist? Experts say aviation tech is old and patchy. It’s connected, but that means vulnerabilities spread quickly.
There’s no easy fix. Authorities across Europe are beefing up incident response teams and updating emergency protocols.
As the dust settles, Saturday’s attack serves as yet another warning; your next journey could be at the mercy of someone behind a keyboard.
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