Disruption at Heathrow and European airports after cyber attack

On Saturday, 20 September 2025, a cyberattack took down the software used by several European airports to support check-in, boarding, and luggage processing. The software is provided by Collins Aerospace, an American aviation company and the world’s largest provider of aerospace and defence products.

The company, owned by RTX, released a statement announcing that it was “aware of a cyber-related disruption […] in selected airports” specifically targeting its Muse software.

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The main airports impacted include Dublin, Brussels, Berlin and London Heathrow, where airlines have cancelled or delayed flights over the weekend. According to the Guardian, over the weekend, 90 per cent of more than 350 flights had been delayed by 15 minutes or more at Heathrow Airport, while airlines operating from Brussels Airport had to cancel almost half of their flights on Monday, 22 September, according to the BBC.

The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre released the following statement:

“We are working with Collins Aerospace and affected UK airports, alongside the Department for Transport and law enforcement colleagues, to fully understand the impact of an incident. All organisations are urged to make use of the NCSC’s free guidance, services and tools to help reduce the chances of a cyber attack and bolster their resilience in the face of online threats.”

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Certain flights in and out of Heathrow continue to be impacted, but the airport released a statement in the early hours of Monday morning claiming that “Work continues to resolve and recover from the outage of a Collins Aerospace airline system that impacted check-in. We apologise to those who have faced delays, but by working together with airlines, the vast majority of flights have continued to operate. We encourage passengers to check the status of their flight before travelling to Heathrow and to arrive no earlier than three hours for long-haul flights and two hours for short-haul.”

Both Heathrow Airport and Heidi Alexander, the UK’s transport secretary, advise travellers to check with their airlines in advance of their flight.