Passengers flying out of Heathrow Airport might face delays today due to glitches in the check-in and boarding systems following a cyberattack on a service provider. Technical hitches have been reported at the airport this morning, and passengers have been cautioned that it "may cause delays".

A spokesperson for Heathrow Airport stated: "A third-party supplier providing check-in and boarding systems for several airlines across multiple airports is experiencing a technical issue, which may cause delays for departing passengers. The provider is working to resolve the problem quickly.

"Please check your flight status with your airline before travelling to the airport. Additional colleagues are available in check-in areas to assist and minimise disruption. We apologise for any inconvenience."

Similar problems have been reported at other European airports, including Brussels and Berlin, after both disclosed being targets of a cyberattack that disrupted online check-in and boarding systems. The issue is impacting Collins Aerospace, which provides services to several airlines at numerous airports worldwide.

One passenger eager to start her Thailand holiday revealed she had to endure a three-hour wait just to drop off her luggage at Heathrow. Maria Casey commented: "The queues are terrible. It was an absolute skeleton staff. Out of six of the desks there were probably two people.

"When we were queuing, because nobody was actually informing of us anything," she told Sky News. "So we were queuing. But then I saw the breaking news on Sky News and I was like 'ah ok, cyber attack'."

Tereze Pultarova, a freelance journalist from London, arrived at Heathrow Airport in the early hours of the morning to catch a KLM Royal Dutch Airlines flight to Amsterdam, where she was to hop on a connection flight to Cape Town in South Africa.

But on arrival at the airport's Terminal 4, she was faced with queues, delays, and confusion as to whether she will be able to make her trip at all.

She said: "We were kind of stranded here because the weird thing is, KLM wasn't able to issue us boarding passes digitally, and requested us to collect them at the check-in desk.

"And then they told us that there is some sort of global issue with the system they're using for check-in and boarding, and they have to do everything manually. So then they were checking in people at the rate of, like, one person per 10 minutes. I'm not exaggerating. It was just insane, the queue wasn't moving."

At this point, staff told them the flight would be departing and that the gate was closing. "So they checked-in like 20 people, maybe like the business class, and then told the people from the 6.30 flight to just go away, that they need to start checking in for the 8.40 flight."

Brussels Airport, which has also been affected by the cyber attack, has confirmed there have been 10 flight cancellations at their aviation hub. An additional 17 flights have been hit by delays of an hour or more.

Heathrow Airport hit with severe delays as European airports suffer 'cyber attack' - Daily Star