Kelowna News

Some flights delayed after Kelowna airport public information system hacked with pro-Hamas messaging

Airport PA system hacked

Colin Dacre - Oct 14, 2025 / 7:26 pm | Story: 577952

Photo: Contributed

This message took over the flight information screens at Kelowna's airport on Tuesday evening.

UPDATE: 7:26 p.m.

Kelowna International Airport says some flights have been delayed after a third party hacked its terminal display screens and public address system with pro-Hamas messaging on Tuesday evening.

The incident happened at about 5:15 p.m.

“We are experiencing some delayed flights,” the airport said in a news release.

“We apologize to our passengers for this inconvenience and ask anyone travelling through YLW to check with their airline for updated flight information.”

The YLW website shows two flights to Victoria have been delayed, as well as a flight to Prince George.

YLW said its team has successfully removed the unauthorized messaging and restored the airport's flight information display screens.

Work is ongoing to restore the PA system.

UPDATE 6:30 p.m.

Kelowna International Airport says they are investigating how a third-party gained access to the terminal’s flight information and public address system.

Phillip Elchitz, YLW director of operations, says airport staff have restored the flight information display system to its original state, but the public address system remains down after the incident.

Flights in and out of the airport are not being impacted.

“Aircraft continue to operate,” he said.

“We do know that there have been other airports who have reported having the same issue. We don't have all the details yet, but we do know that this is being reported by multiple airports.”

Elchitz said staff were able to “quickly neutralize the system” and bring the airport back to “mostly operational status.”

The incident created significant confusion and anxiety for passengers at the airport Tuesday, but operations are returning to normal.

Ground staff are now using megaphones to announce boardings for flights.

ORIGINAL 6 p.m.

The Kelowna International Airport's public address and information system was hijacked by pro-Hamas messaging Tuesday evening.

Numerous callers to Castanet’s newsroom say the system started blaring Arabic, across the entire terminal, at about 5:15 p.m.

At the same time, a message took over the flight information screens, announcing the system was “Hacked By Mutariff Siberislam” with a message “Israel lost the war, Hamas won the war honorably.”

Passengers waiting for their flights at YLW said they could not understand what was being played on the loudspeakers, with the exception of some profanity directed at U.S. president Donald Trump and Israeli president Benjamin Netanyahu.

The message was being played on the airport loudspeakers and TV screens for about 2.5 minutes before the system was shut down, the passengers say.

The hackers message directs people to a Twitter/X account that contains a post of a hacked billboard in Peru displaying the same message, suggesting the group responsible is active internationally. The group also hacked a pizza restaurant in Mexico four months ago.

An airport passenger tells Castanet the public address system is no longer being used and airport staff have started using megaphones. Some flights appear to still be boarding.

Castanet has requested additional information from the airport.