Since 2017, a series of drone sightings and digital outages have repeatedly disrupted airports. These incidents often bypass core flight-safety systems, instead targeting key points like check-in and boarding systems, power infrastructure, and airfield perimeters, causing a cascading effect across global networks.
May 27, 2017: IT Failure at British Airways’ London Hubs A power issue at a data center caused British Airways to cancel all flights from Heathrow and Gatwick on the first day of a holiday weekend, affecting 75,000 passengers. A strong power surge hit BA’s flight, baggage, and communication systems, also rendering backup systems ineffective. The resulting delays lasted into the following Monday.
Dec 19, 2018: Repeated Drone Sightings at London Gatwick Persistent drone reports crippled London’s Gatwick Airport for three days during the busy Christmas travel season. Approximately 140,000 passengers and about 1,000 flights were affected in the largest disruption since the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud in 2010. The British army was deployed to use “specialist equipment” since anti-drone technology was not yet commercially available.
Jan 11, 2023: Safety System Failure Causes Nationwide Halt in US The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a nationwide ground stop for about 90 minutes after its “Notice to Air Mission” (NOTAM) system failed. The NOTAM system is meant to alert pilots to hazards like snow, volcanic ash, or birds near an airport, as well as providing information on closed runways and air restrictions. The failure disrupted more than 11,000 U.S. flights.
Aug 28, 2023: NATS Flight-Data Glitch in the United Kingdom UK air traffic control had to limit flights after a flight-plan processing fault forced manual input. Around 1,500 flights were canceled, and the disruption carried over into the next day.
July 19, 2024: Faulty CrowdStrike Update Causes Global Windows Outage A flawed security software update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike caused widespread Windows crashes, grounding over 5,000 flights worldwide. Carriers including Delta Air Lines, Ryanair, United, and Air India faced delays and disruptions across the U.S., Asia, and Europe. More than 2,200 flights were canceled in the U.S. alone on day one, with nearly 7,000 delayed, and some airlines took days to fully recover.
Mar 21, 2025: Substation Fire Shuts Down London Heathrow Britain’s Heathrow Airport, the world’s fifth-busiest, was shut for 18 hours after a massive fire at a nearby electrical substation knocked out its power. The incident stranded over 200,000 people and cost airlines millions of pounds. Flights were diverted to other airports across Britain and Europe.
Sept 10, 2025: Drone Incursion into Poland Several Polish airports, including Warsaw Chopin, Modlin, Rzeszow, and Lublin, were temporarily closed after around 21 suspected Russian drones entered Polish airspace. The airports later resumed operations.
Sept 20, 2025: Cyberattack Affects Multiple EU Hubs A cyberattack targeting check-in and boarding systems provider Collins Aerospace, a unit of RTX, disrupted operations at several major European airports, including London’s Heathrow, Berlin Airport, and Brussels Airport. Brussels Airport alone canceled 25 flights on Saturday and 50 on Sunday due to persistent problems, and half of Monday’s flight departures were also canceled.
Sept 22, 2025: Drone Incursions into Danish and Norwegian Airspace Two to three large drones were seen repeatedly flying near Copenhagen’s airspace, leading to a nearly four-hour shutdown, diversions, and delays that left tens of thousands of passengers stranded. In Norway, authorities also shut down Oslo airport’s airspace for three hours after a drone was spotted.
