Travellers with flights from the Berlin-Brandenburg airport have been warned to be prepared for continued delays, cancellations and long waiting times following a cyber attack on an IT system that took place on Friday, September 19th.
This week travellers at the airport were still facing disruptions and delays at check-in counters at the airport, and the situation is expected to be made worse by a surge of traffic brought by three-day weekend that begins with the public holiday on Friday.
In view of the Day of German Unity, Berlin airport expects 90,000 passengers on Friday, and almost 96,000 on Sunday. That's significantly more than would be seen on a normal weekend.
An airport spokesperson told the German Press Agency on Tuesday that the the IT system could be made functional again this week, citing the declared goal of the airport service provider Collins Aerospace to restore the core system by Sunday.
"That doesn't mean that everything will run normally on Sunday afternoon," the spokesperson added.
A notice on the Berlin airport's website maintained that passengers should check with their airlines to confirm that their flights are still scheduled, and that longer waiting times are expected.
The statement added: "Please use online check-in, self-service check-in and the fast bag drop service".
Self-check-in at the terminal is offered by 19 airlines at the airport.
Last week, almost every flight was marked as delayed on the airport website. In recent days there have been fewer delays.
But there could be more problems leading up to Friday and the weekend as a higher number of travellers can be expected to take-off for the holiday period.Â
Cyberattack
Passengers initially also faced flight delays at London Heathrow, Dublin and Brussels airports. Münster Osnabrück Airport was also "indirectly affected".
The delays followed problems with passenger check-in software that began September 19th.
According to the EU cybersecurity agency ENISA, it was an attack with so-called ransomware, i.e. malware that encrypts data and systems. Attackers then demand a ransom to release the affected software.
British police have since reported the arrest of a suspect believed to be responsible for the cyberattack.Â
A press release by the British National Crime Agency said the suspect was arrested in West Sussex, and was later released on bail. The suspect is a man in his forties, and is accused of breaching the Computer Misuse Act.
According to reporting by The Guardian, the total number of affected passengers over the weekend was in the hundreds of thousands.
READ ALSO: European airports getting back online after cyberattack
Impacts at Berlin airport came as a surge of travellers flew out of the city's only major airport, following the Berlin Marathon.
The other major German airports were not affected.
Luggage issues
Check-in, boarding and baggage check-in functions were initially affected by the attack, with airlines making do for days by checking in passengers by hand and with external technology.
Some passengers had tried to take their suitcases through the security check as hand luggage. However, the Berlin airport spokesperson told DPA: "That doesn't work, we strongly advise against it."
They urged travellers to follow the correct procedures.Â
"There are still large amounts of luggage that have to be managed," the airport spokesperson said. In terms of personnel and space, the airport is slowly regaining its normal capacities.
With reporting by AFP and DPA.
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