For the fourth day running, European airports are still dealing with knock-on effects from a ransomware attack that targeted Collins Aerospace, a vendor that supplies check-in and boarding systems. The outage forced airlines and airports to revert to manual processes and has left thousands of passengers facing long queues and delayed flights.The attack impacts the company’s check-in infrastructure used by multiple carriers and airports. As of the most recent live aviation feeds:
- Heathrow: ~90% of flights delayed (average delay ~29 minutes)
- Brussels: ~88% of flights delayed (average delay ~43 minutes)
- Berlin Brandenburg: ~94% of flights delayed (average delay ~60 minutes)
- Dublin: ~91% of flights delayed (average delay ~26 minutes)
Airport statements indicate there is no fixed timeline for a full restoration. Airlines are using manual workarounds for check-in and boarding while Collins and its parent company work on recovery.
Why this is worse than a single-site outage
This isn’t just a local IT failure — it’s an example of systemic risk in aviation: a single supplier outage can ripple across regions because so many airports and airlines rely on shared third-party platforms. When a vendor handling authentication, check-in, or boarding systems goes down, airlines must scramble to switch to paper manifests and manual identity checks, which slows boarding and raises security and compliance concerns.
Two important implications:
- Supply-chain centralization: Outsourcing convenience services to a small number of suppliers can create single points of failure.
- Operational strain: Manual fallbacks are slow and error-prone; staff training and rehearsed playbooks matter.
How airports and airlines are coping right now
Airports and airlines have implemented contingency measures: manual check-in desks, passport checks at gates, and paper boarding passes. These manual processes work, but they don’t scale quickly and they increase wait times, the chance of human error, and staffing pressure.
Dublin’s airport said manual workarounds are in place with no firm repair timeline; Brussels and Berlin have warned of continued delays and longer queues.
Two short-term fixes and longer-term lessons
Short-term (what operators should do now)
- Keep passengers informed with proactive messaging and realistic delay estimates.
- Deploy additional frontline staff to speed manual processing and reduce stress on teams.
- Collect and preserve audit logs and forensic data for the incident response and regulators.
Long-term (what the industry needs to change)
- Diversify suppliers: Reduce single-vendor dependencies for mission-critical systems.
- Test manual fallbacks: Regular drills so manual processes can be scaled quickly and safely.
- Supply-chain cybersecurity standards: Enforce stronger baseline security requirements and third-party audits for vendors.
Why this matters beyond delayed flights
Air travel touches national economies and critical supply chains. Prolonged IT outages don’t just inconvenience passengers — they create cascading costs for airlines, airports, ground handlers, and freight customers. From reputational damage to regulatory scrutiny, the stakes are high. Regulators and executives will likely ask tough questions about vendor risk management and incident preparedness after this event.
Final thoughts
This incident is a blunt reminder that modern travel depends on a fragile web of third-party systems. Fixing that fragility will take coordinated effort: better vendor oversight, routine resilience testing, and smarter contingency planning. Passengers should expect some disruption while systems are restored — but industry leaders should use this outage as a turning point to harden aviation IT against the next cyber shock.
Question for readers: If you were running an airport IT team, what single change would you prioritize first to reduce the impact of vendor outages stricter vendor audits, regular manual fallback drills, or diversifying suppliers? Share your thoughts below.
