Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
Due to a cyberattack, check-in and boarding systems at Brussels Airport have been down since Friday evening. As a result, many passengers were forced to check in manually, leading to the usual problems. Since then, some airlines have adopted their own alternative IT systems.
Pen and paper will continue to be used at the airport on Monday. According to Ihsan Shiwa Lakhli, a spokeswoman for Brussels Airport, quoted by the Nieuwsblad newspaper, "We will continue to use an alternative check-in system today, including online check-in, self-bag drop, the use of laptops, and the use of pen and paper. The vast majority of flights are operating as usual: from . Everything is running smoothly at the moment." Of the 277 departures, 40 have been canceled. Everything is running smoothly at the moment. Of the 277 incoming flights, 23 have been canceled. The average delay is currently 30 minutes.
Passengers wishing to arrive at the airport on Monday are asked not to take any additional precautions. "Just make sure to arrive on time," Lakhli added. This means two hours in advance for Schengen flights and three hours in advance for non-Schengen flights.
It is not yet clear when the airport will return to its normal check-in and boarding system.
Media reports last night predicted that disruptions at Brussels Airport, due to a cyberattack on an external service provider, would continue after the weekend. The airport is again asking airlines to cancel half of its outgoing flights on Monday. Brussels Airlines announced Sunday evening that it would cancel nine more outgoing flights and the same number of incoming flights on Monday.
The Federal Police told De Standaard newspaper that the Federal Computer Crime Unit is investigating the cyberattack that caused significant disruption at Brussels Airport throughout the weekend. Like many other European airports, Brussels Airport has been experiencing technical problems with its check-in and boarding systems since Friday evening due to a cyberattack. On the third-party service provider, Collins Aerospace. Since then, many passengers have been checking in manually, using handwritten boarding passes, making the check-in process much slower. On Saturday, this situation led to the cancellation of 25 departures (out of 234) and 13 arrivals, according to a statement from Brussels Airport. To prevent long queues and late cancellations, Brussels Airport urged airlines to cancel half of their departures on Sunday. Ultimately, airlines canceled 50 departures out of 257 scheduled flights on Sunday. 35 incoming flights were also canceled.
Woghfa told Brussels Airport: "Thanks to these cancellations and flight delays due to planned delays, the deployment of additional staff by various airport partners, and the continued operation of self-service bag drop and online check-in, the airport, in collaboration with its partners, successfully operated 85% of scheduled departures."