Poland investigates sabotage after air traffic control disruption delayed flights

Poland’s internal security agency is investigating whether sabotage was behind a temporary outage in the country’s air traffic control system that disrupted operations at multiple airports on Saturday, causing widespread delays.

Poland’s air navigation authority, PANSA, said it had restored the country’s primary air traffic management system after a sudden technical failure on Saturday morning forced airspace restrictions and halted several departures from major airports, including Warsaw, Kraków and Gdańsk.

The outage was not attributed to a cyberattack but prompted scrutiny from national security services for potential signs of sabotage. Poland has been on heightened alert over suspected acts of sabotage linked to Russia.

“Officers of the Internal Security Agency are collecting information, analyzing it, and verifying it for potential sabotage,” Interior Ministry spokesperson Jacek Dobrzyński said on X, formerly Twitter, while warning against disinformation and fake news.

According to PANSA, the outage was caused by an unspecified technical malfunction. The agency said it had “switched to a backup system" before the issue was addressed. Authorities have not disclosed further technical details, citing national security concerns.

No flights were canceled over the weekend, but delays rippled across the country’s air travel network.

Warsaw’s Chopin Airport reported several dozen delayed departures, while Kraków, Gdańsk, and Katowice airports also experienced disruptions.

Tensions with Russia

In January, Prime Minister Donald Tusk accused Moscow of preparing “air terror” operations targeting airlines worldwide, including potential sabotage and diversion activities on Polish territory. Tusk did not cite specific incidents at the time.

In May, Polish authorities ordered the closure of the Russian consulate in Kraków after receiving evidence that Russian intelligence services were involved in a 2023 fire that destroyed one of Warsaw’s largest shopping centers.

In a separate incident in 2023, hackers believed to be operating from Belarus breached Poland’s national railway communication system, disrupting dozens of trains and bringing traffic to a standstill for several hours. Authorities said the operation was likely conducted in support of Russia.

More broadly in Europe, France recently warned about Russian hybrid threats, and the United Kingdom announced sanctions against the Kremlin, saying its goal is to “destabilise” Western nations.