A major cyberattack has hit the UK’s three busiest airports, putting 8.7 million customers’ data at risk.
The company spokesperson for the Manchester Airport Group (MAG) issued a statement on Thursday, August 27, 2026, confirming that the security breach had occurred.
The group (MAG), which manages operations at UK’s three major airports: Manchester, London and East Midlands, said that “at no point has passenger safety or aviation security been compromised”, while reassuring the public that no payment or banking details were exposed.
The stolen data is believed to mainly include customer email accounts, stored in databases during terminal wifi registrations.
However, the hack also gains access to contact numbers, vehicle registration numbers and postcodes linked with airport bookings, per The Independent.
The security breach has not impacted flight schedules, and terminal operations across all three airports remain fully functional, the outlet added.
The statement by the MAG spokesperson read: “The Manchester Airports group has been subject to a cybersecurity incident by an unauthorised third party.”
“A quantity of customer data has been obtained that relates to car park, lounge and fast track bookings and in-airport wifi sign-ups at Manchester, Stansted and East Midlands airports,” the statement added.
The company also reassured its customers that the efforts are being made to damage control, adding, “We immediately contained the risk and have been working with specialist advisers and taking appropriate steps to protect our customers and systems.”
Over the last year, more than 32 million passengers travelled through Manchester Airport; meanwhile, Stansted managed over 30 million passengers, and Leicestershire’s East Midlands saw four million travellers in total.
2026-08-27 18:00:00
