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Cyber-attack causes delays at Heathrow and other European airports
Heathrow is among several European airports hit by a cyber-attack affecting an electronic check-in and baggage system.
A number of flights were delayed at the airport on Saturday as a “technical issue” impacted software provided to several airlines.
Brussels Airport said a cyber-attack on Friday night meant passengers were being checked in and boarded manually, while Berlin’s Brandenburg Airport also reported longer waiting times due to the problem.
RTX, which owns software provider Collins Aerospace, said it was “aware of a cyber-related disruption” to its system in “select airports” and that it was working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.
The company added: “The impact is limited to electronic customer check-in and baggage drop and can be mitigated with manual check-in operations.”
It said its Muse software – which allows different airlines to use the same check-in desks and boarding gates at an airport, rather than requiring their own – had been affected.
The BBC understands that British Airways is operating as normal using a back-up system, but that most other airlines operating from Heathrow have been affected.
Hundreds of flights have been delayed at the airports throughout Saturday, according to flight tracker FlightAware.
Dublin Airport said it and Cork Airport had experienced a “minor impact” from the cyber-attack, with some airlines implementing manual check-in processes.
Lucy Spencer said she had been queuing to check in for a Malaysia Airlines flight for more than two hours, and that staff were manually tagging luggage and checking passengers in over the phone.
“They told us to use the boarding passes on our phone, but when we got to the gates they weren’t working – they’ve now sent us back to the check-in gate,” she told the BBC from Heathrow’s Terminal 4, adding that she could see hundreds of people queuing up.
Another passenger, Monazza Aslam, said she had been sitting on the tarmac for over an hour “with no idea when we will fly”, and had already missed her onward connection at Doha.
“I’ve been at Heathrow with my elderly parents since 05:00,” she said, adding: “We are hungry and tired.”
Johnny Lal, who was due to fly to Bombay for his mother-in-law’s funeral on Saturday, said he and his mother will now miss their flight.
He told the BBC his mother “can’t walk one step without her [mobility] scooter” but that Heathrow staff had been unable to provide her with one. “They keep just telling us the systems are down.”
Luke Agger-Joynes said that, while queues in Terminal 3 were “much larger than normal”, the airline for his US flight and the airport “seem to be prepared and the queues are moving much faster than I feared”.
He added: “They are also calling out specific flights and picking people out of the queue to ensure they don’t miss their flights.”
Heathrow said additional staff were at hand in check-in areas to help minimise disruption.
“We advise passengers to check their flight status with their airline before travelling to the airport and arrive no earlier than three hours before a long haul flight or two hours for a domestic flight.”
A National Cyber Security Centre spokesperson said: “We are working with Collins Aerospace and affected UK airports, alongside Department for Transport and law enforcement colleagues, to fully understand the impact of an incident.”
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said she was aware of the incident and was “getting regular updates and monitoring the situation”.
EasyJet and Ryanair, which do not operate out of Heathrow but are among Europe’s biggest airlines, said they were operating as normal.
Brussels Airport said there would be a “large impact on the flight schedule”, including cancellations and delays. Long queues and large crowds could be seen at the airport on Saturday morning.
Europe’s combined aviation safety organisation, Eurocontrol, said airline operators had been asked to cancel half their flight schedules to and from the airport between 04:00 GMT on Saturday and 02:00 on Monday due to the disruption.
Travel journalist Simon Calder said that “any disruption is potentially serious” at Heathrow, given it is Europe’s busiest airport, and that “departure control is a really complex business”.
He told the BBC: “These things are all interconnected, so a little bit of a problem in Brussels, in Berlin… people start missing connections, planes and passengers and pilots are not where they are meant to be, and things can get quite a lot worse before they get better.”
It was only last July that a global IT crash due to a faulty software update from cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike caused disruption to aviation, grounding flights across the US.
Analysts said at the time that the incident highlighted how the industry could be vulnerable to issues with digital systems.
While there are unfounded accusations circulating that this cyber-attack was carried out by Kremlin-sponsored hackers, all major hacks in the past few years have been carried out by criminal gangs more interested in extracting money from their victims.
Extortion gangs have made hundreds of millions of dollars a year by stealing data or using ransomware to cause chaos and extract ransoms in bitcoin from their victims.
It is far too early to know who is behind this attack. Some cyber-security experts suggested this could be a ransomware attack, but note that these can be perpetrated by state-sponsored actors as well.
Collins Aerospace has yet to comment publicly about the nature or origin of the hack.
Many hacking gangs are headquartered in Russia or other former Soviet countries, some of which are thought to have ties to the Russian state.
But there have been plenty of arrests elsewhere, while British and American teenagers are accused of carrying out some recent large cyber-attacks against Las Vegas casinos, M&S, Co-op and Transport for London.
[BBC]
The Pakistan Super League will have a popular winner this season. It is either Peshawar Zalmi and their adored leader Babar Azam triumphing at what is his home ground, or Hyderabad Kingsmen, a flawed side that has caught fire at the right moments to defy odds to stay alive until the very end.
In Zalmi, there is a team that, with its relentless consistency all tournament, cricketing logic dictates should be the favourites. But in Kingsmen, there is a team Pakistanis can relate to so deeply, one that starts poorly, fixates on impossible scenarios, takes advantage of net run rates, and pulls victories out of dead-and-buried scenarios with what feels like unstoppable momentum on its side. This is the team for whom Pakistani logic will promise that the favourites tag is just another mere obstacle to bulldoze past.
Zalmi have the ingredients a league-winning side needs to possess. The top two run-scorers in the league, as well as the top wicket-taker, all wear yellow. Babar and Kusal Mendis’ phenomenal consistency frees up Mohammad Haris at the top for a free hit in the powerplay, and sets up enough of a platform to take the pressure off the rest.
Sufiyan Muqim, well clear of everybody else on the wickets chart, can derail any batting line-up in his current form, while Iftikhar Ahmed has proved a surprise success with the ball this year. In Ali Raza, Zalmi have perhaps the most valuable emerging player, and certainly the quickest. Oh, and Bangladesh fast bowler Nahid Rana is back for the final after being given dispensation by the BCB.
But Kingsmen, how do you analyse this side? They have Hunain Shah, the scripter of so many of their great moments. That inswinging yorker against Rawalpindiz that secured qualification, those five more in the final over against Islamabad United to seal one of the great PSL wins. They have Usman Khan, no torque and all muscle, like a Bentley stripped for parts and repurposed as a crude battering ram, a cricketing specimen that just isn’t meant to be successful, and has somehow found its ecological niche over the past fortnight.
They have Marnus Labuschagne, a captain who had never put on a T20 armband before, yet lost himself in the magic of Friday night, charging across the field before emotion overcame him. Someone who has, over the past month, come to understand what cricket in Pakistan is all about, and thrown himself into it with the zeal of a convert.
Momentum and destiny, all appears to lie with the Kingsmen. They have now won seven of their last eight, and found multiple matchwinners in that time. They may not have the completeness of Zalmi, but they will perhaps sense that adversity hasn’t touched their opposition in the way it has tested them. If they can turn this into a game of nerves, Kingsmen have the experience to come through in a way Zalmi might not.
Most importantly, though, a PSL season largely lost to empty stadiums offered a reminder on Friday of how much match-going crowds add to the value of a contest. Most of this season may not have been a classic, but with spectators now watching on, the league is quickly making up for lost time.
Babar Azam is the leading run-scorer of the tournament, one run away from becoming the leading run-scorer in any PSL season. Having endured the roughest patch of his career, something appears to have finally clicked for his T20 game. Across this season, he has become a complete T20 batter rather than the staid accumulator he was for much of his career. Mendis’ form may have helped, but Babar’s form has only grown. In front of an adoring crowd that will, in large part, have come to see him, the Zalmi captain has the chance to secure a legacy-building win that may yet give his international career a second wind.
He may not be in the touch Kingsmen wish, but few would barrack against Glenn Maxwell in the biggest games. So far, Maxwell has played little more than a bit-part role, primarily with the ball, where he has offered genuine value. However, when Kingsmen battled to stay alive in their final group game, he offered a well-timed reminder of how high his ceiling remains in a 37-ball onslaught that fetched 70, and gave his side the cushion to get the huge net run rate win they needed. Pakistani cricket loves a wildcard, and in Maxwell, Kingsmen have the ultimate ace they can play on Sunday.
Rana has arrived in Pakistan and will take his place in the starting XI. That could squeeze Khurram Shahzad out. No other changes are expected.
Peshawar Zalmi (probable) Mohammad Haris (wk), Babar Azam (capt), Kusal Mendis, Michael Bracewell, Abdul Samad, Aaron Hardie, Iftikhar Ahmed, Farhan Yousaf, Nahid Rana, Sufyan Moqim, Mohammad Basit
Kingsmen will go in with an unchanged side.
Hyderabad Kingsmen (probable): Maaz Sadaqat, Marnus Labuschagne (capt), Saim Ayub, Usman Khan (wk), Glenn Maxwell, Kusal Perera, Irfan Khan, Hassan Khan, Hunain Shah, Mohammad Ali, Akif Javed
[Cricinfo]
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Heat Index at ‘Caution level’ at some places in the Northern, North-central, Eastern, Sabaragamuwa, North-western provinces and in Colombo, Gampaha and Monaragala districts during the day time
Warm Weather Advisory
Issued by the Natural Hazards Early Warning Centre
Issued at 3.30 p.m. on 02 May 2026, valid for 03 May 2026
The Heat index, the temperature felt on human body is likely to increase up to ‘Caution level’ at some places in the Northern, North-central, Eastern, Sabaragamuwa, North-western provinces and in Colombo, Gampaha and Monaragala districts during the day time.
The Heat Index Forecast is calculated by using relative humidity and maximum temperature and this is the condition that is felt on your body. This is not the forecast of maximum temperature. It is generated by the Department of Meteorology for the next day period and prepared by using global numerical weather prediction model data.
Effect of the heat index on the human body is mentioned in the above table and it is prepared on the advice of the Ministry of Health and Indigenous Medical Services.
ACTION REQUIRED
Job sites: Stay hydrated and takes breaks in the shade as often as possible.
Indoors: Check up on the elderly and the sick.
Vehicles: Never leave children unattended.
Outdoors: Limit strenuous outdoor activities, find shade and stay hydrated.
Dress: Wear lightweight and white or light-colored clothing.
Note:
In addition, please refer to advisories issued by the Disaster Preparedness & Response Division, Ministry of Health in this regard as well. For further clarifications please contact 011-7446491.
Somali pirates have hijacked an oil tanker off the coast of Yemen, according to multiple Somali security officials that spoke with the BBC.
The Yemeni coastguard earlier said the tanker MT Eureka had been hijacked and was headed towards Somalia. Sources said it was overrun by pirates in the Gulf of Aden, near the port of Qana.
The pirates departed a remote coastal area near the seaside town of Qandala, which sits on the Gulf of Aden, according to three separate security officials from the semi-autonomous Puntland region who spoke with the BBC.
It marks the second hijacking of an oil tanker in the area in a 10-day period, following the hijacking of Honor 25 by Somali pirates on April 22.
Honor 25 was carrying 18,500 barrels of oil bound for Mogadishu.
MT Eureka was sailing on the flag of the west African nation of Togo prior to the hijacking and was overrun by the gunmen at 5:00 AM local time (03:00 BST) this morning, the security official went on to tell the BBC.
It is now sailing in the Gulf of Aden between Yemen and Somalia, and is expected to anchor in Somali waters in the coming hours.
In a separate incident, the United Kingdom Maritime Transportation Operation (UKMTO) reported on Friday that “armed persons” on a “skiff” approached a bulk carrier near Al-Mukala, Yemen.
Those armed persons departed a remote coastal area near the fishing town of Caluula (Alula), according to three separate security officials. Caluula is 209km (130 miles) from where hijackers departed to seize the MT Eureka.
The two separate incidents indicate piracy is expanding across Somalia’s vast coastline, which is the longest in mainland Africa at 3,333km (2071 miles).
Today’s hijacking marks the fourth successful pirate hijacking in two weeks.
Somali authorities and the European Union Naval Force (EUNAVFOR), which oversees anti piracy operations in Somali waters, are yet to address the latest hijacking.
Somali piracy, which was on the decline since 2011, has surged again since late 2023, when Houthi rebels began attacking ships in the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea. The attacks forced international navies to instead tackle the Houthi threat, thus allowing armed groups on the Somali coast to take advantage of the security lapse.
“The on-going crisis with the pirates is much worse than many realize. There are increasing movements (of armed groups) all over the coast” a security official from the semi-autonomous Puntland region told the BBC.
[BBC]
Zalmi favourites in final but Kingsmen arrive with odds-defying juju
Showers will occur at several places in the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Central, North-western, North-central and Eastern provinces and in Badulla, Galle and Matara districts after 2.00 pm.
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