Man arrested in Collins Aerospace cyberattack that disrupted air travel

The United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency arrested a man during its investigation into a cyberattack against Collins Aerospace that disrupted check-ins and delayed flights at several major European airports over the weekend.

The agency arrested a man in his 40s in West Sussex, a county in the south of England, on suspicion of offenses under the U.K.’s Computer Misuse Act, the agency said in a statement Wednesday. He has been released on conditional bail, it added.

The investigation continues and is in its “early stages,” according to Paul Foster, head of the agency’s cyber unit.

The cyberattack, which began last Friday, affected Cedar Rapids-based Collins Aerospace software that underpins check-in and boarding systems, snarling travel at London Heathrow, Dublin, Berlin Brandenburg and Brussels airports through the weekend.

Hackers used ransomware to lock down the company’s systems and render them inoperable, according to the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity.

“We understand the United Kingdom National Crime Agency has made an arrest and appreciate their ongoing assistance in this matter,” RTX Corp., Collins Aerospace’s parent company, said in a statement. RTX previously said it was working to regain “full functionality to our customers as quickly as possible.”

With kiosks and bag-drop machines offline, airports have been forced to rely on manual processing, slowing passenger flows and resulting in flight delays and cancellations.

Disruption in London and Berlin had eased by Monday. Heathrow Airport said in a statement Tuesday that most of its flights were departing as normal, but added that it had deployed additional staff in terminals to assist passengers.

Passengers traveling via Brussels Airport have continued to face some delays and cancellations, with the airport advising that there would be “limited disruption” Wednesday. The airport has asked passengers to check in online ahead of their scheduled flights.