Global airport outage disrupts peak travel, Iberia and partners report delays

Caos at international airports disrupted travel during peak vacation departures as a global computer outage triggered widespread flight delays and long queues. In Spain, the most notable impact hit Aena, whose systems outage affected thousands of operations and contributed to hundreds of delays and cancellations by mid‑afternoon, accounting for a small portion of total daily activity. Aena later restored its main systems by late morning after dealing with the initial disruption that blocked access to passenger ticketing systems. The incident began in the early hours due to an update to a cybersecurity program used by many large companies worldwide, a change that produced a blue screen of death and halted critical services, according to the National Cybersecurity Institute. That blue screen became visible to many Aena staff as the day started. The airport operator moved quickly to implement contingency plans, including manual ticketing, to keep operations moving. By mid‑morning the schedule was back on track, with departures and arrivals continuing, albeit with noticeable delays and without a full shutdown. Aena was not alone in facing the disruption; Iberia also reported significant network security failures affecting its operations. The IAG‑owned carrier implemented measures to manage delays and avoid cancellations, prioritizing continued service stability and passenger itineraries. Only one route between Madrid and Zurich was canceled due to the latter airport’s closure. The most affected European routes during the morning were those into Berlin, Amsterdam, and Zurich, where several hours of airport standstill occurred before gradually resuming operations at a slower pace and with substantial delays, as reported by Eurocontrol. By midday, the affected airports resumed activity, though with reduced speed and capacity. Other major hubs including Heathrow, Edinburgh, Brisbane, and several New Zealand airports reported problems as the day progressed. By the evening, Flight Aware recorded more than thirty thousand delays and over three thousand cancellations worldwide, though not all events could be directly linked to the outage. A comparison with the previous day showed a higher level of activity on an otherwise similar travel day. Airlines such as Iberia, Air Europa, and Ryanair advised travelers to arrive earlier than usual and to check status updates before heading to the airport. Consumer organizations reminded passengers of rights in the event of cancellations, including meal and hotel accommodations if needed, and the option to receive a refund or rebook a flight if delays exceed five hours, with arrangements made in consultation with the airline. The day’s disruptions illustrate how a single outage can ripple across global air travel, affecting schedules, passenger plans, and airport operations for hours across multiple continents.