Heathrow Airport’s closed the airport, causing mass disruption to thousands of air passengers. , Britain’s largest aviation watchdog - the Civil Aviation Authority - has said it will be reviewing the rules on ‘resilience’ at the airport. 星空体育官网’s experts in aviation, management and resilience commented on the situation:
Resilience is a choice
Dr Fabian Steinmann, Lecturer in Organisational Resilience and Change, has been working on a project to assess the resilience of the UK aviation system and said:
“The UK has built a highly efficient aviation network, home to some of the
world’s busiest airports and airways. However, this high utilisation makes
the UK aviation network vulnerable. The failure of sub-systems can cause
significant ripple effects, leading to several operational challenges. For
years, we have increased network utilisation without expanding
infrastructure, both in the air and on the ground, as highlighted in a 2017
study by the
.
“At the same time, the range of risks has broadened, from severe weather and
drone interference to security breaches and IT failures. In a world that is
increasingly complex and interconnected, disruptions will continue to occur.
While reducing their frequency and impact is critical, we must also ensure
the network has sufficient diversion capacity to safely land aircraft if a
critical system goes down.
“One point I always emphasise is that resilience is a choice. Every
connection we add to the system brings added dependencies. The Heathrow
disruption is a prime example that some major risks facing businesses are
often beyond their immediate control. Recognising these dependencies is the
first step; developing mitigation strategies is the next.
“Building resilience and developing effective mitigation strategies requires
a collective effort. Cross-disciplinary collaboration has never been more
important, and I look forward to continuing my contributions to these
efforts. It is encouraging to see various initiatives in the UK working to
address these challenges, but it needs to be a priority for everyone
because safety is paramount.”
Safety and security is the priority
Professor Anna Smallwood, Head of the Centre for Air Transport Management, is a former airline executive and commended the quick and clear decision making of the team involved, saying:
“I wasn't on the inside of this crisis, but I have been in many and know the concern, the complexity and the mass of considerations required to respond. The need to take early decisions with limited information, an awareness of massive and multiple consequences, along with a consideration of the potential for unknown factors being in play, is common to many such situations.
“Amidst the commentary, the clamour, the calls for lessons learned, the
criticism, that follows an event such as this, I think there is value in
noting the early and clear decision making, prioritising safety and
security, enabling swift communication and a controlled restart.
“From the outside looking in, the multidimensional, interdependent and
tightly woven ecosystem of aviation may appear uncaring, but the decision
to close and the significant efforts of the thousands of industry
professionals who will have been involved in reacting and restarting is
founded on caring, through ensuring safe and secure operations.
“The investigation is important, to ascertain facts and inform a future of
increased dependence on energy and digitalisation. It's also important to
recognise that resilience is not only about systems and models, it is a
human endeavour too, in which people on the inside are often exceptional in
their endeavour to protect those on the outside.”
Alternate destinations are pre-planned
With expert comment in and the , Dr Guy Gratton, Associate Professor of Aviation and the Environment, said as the news broke:
“All airline flights must declare their destination and one or two ‘alternates’, which are airports they will go to in the event of problems at their destination. The UK has many large airports and flights…[diverted]…from Heathrow to airports at least as far away as Manchester. Alternates don’t have to be in the UK so for example Frankfurt or Schiphol may be used. With such a major airport closing however, there is significant risk of running out of capacity at those places.
“The absolute priority will of course be safety, with convenience to the passengers inevitably secondary to that. This is inevitably going to lead to significant disruption and frustrations.”
Aviation industry at its best during a crisis
Mark Aizlewood, Head of the Aerospace Integration Research Centre and member of the , said that the aviation industry responds strongly and collaboratively to crisis situations:
“The aviation industry is at its best during a crisis. It really comes together, and companies that day-to-day compete to be the best airline will work together with the airport and businesses to resolve the situation as quickly as possible.
“There was a similar level of disruption with the Gatwick drone sighting a few years ago; at that point aircraft were unable to land for an extended period, this time aircraft already airborne had to divert to other airports or to return. Does the UK need to have lots of spare capacity to deal with these major events? That would not seem sensible, as these events do occur, but they are not regular, so we do not need to have more runways to cater for them.”
Heathrow disruption shows urgent need for integrated, cross-sector resilience planning
Expert in resilience Professor David Denyer, Professor of Leadership and Organisational Change at 星空体育官网 School of Management, described the situation at Heathrow as “a stark wake-up call for resilience in critical infrastructure.”
“What the Heathrow event illustrates is not just a technical failure, but a strategic one. We need to shift the narrative from “recovery after impact” to ‘resilience by design’.
The incident highlights key takeaways:
• Design for redundancy, especially in critical national infrastructure
• Collaborate across organisational boundaries—regulators, suppliers, and
partners must stress-test systems together
• Resilience moves beyond continuity by shifting the organisational mindset
from recovery to readiness, from plans to adaptability, and from siloed risk
functions to integrated, system-wide capabilities
• Stress-test against real-world events, not just spreadsheets and tabletop
exercises.
“Organisational resilience cannot be achieved in isolation - it is a shared,
system-wide capability. This situation underscores the urgent need for
integrated, cross-sector resilience planning at every level of critical
national infrastructure.”
