Dr Sally Dixon
Aviation resilience depends on more than protecting individual airports from disruption. Dr Sally Dixon argues that the UK must better understand the vulnerabilities in its air cargo network and treat aviation infrastructure as a strategic national asset, essential to long-term economic security and prosperity.
Resilience has galloped up the UK Government’s list of priorities. Rising geopolitical threats, cyber vulnerabilities and climate extremes are driving the national resilience debate towards a “whole-of-society” approach to defence and preparedness.
The recent AIR conference provided an opportunity to explore some critical issues for the UK. My contribution to the panel discussing airports as economic engines, national assets and global connectors focused on air cargo. My concern is that a system can be highly efficient and still be dangerously vulnerable, and that much of the data we need to understand is not being analysed. Specifically, I am referring to the amount of air cargo that is trucked to and from EU airports rather than being flown into and out of the UK.
Relying on overseas airports, concentrating activity in major hubs, minimising spare capacity, and relying on tightly integrated supply chains may make commercial sense under normal circumstances. But we have witnessed what happens when a critical facility becomes unavailable, an international route is disrupted, or a transport connection can no longer be relied upon.
image: Vicki Sharp Photography (Robert Courts, Sally Dixon, Mike Hardaker, Chris Cain)
“A system can be highly efficient and still be dangerously vulnerable”
These are not merely operational questions. They go to the heart of the UK’s economic resilience. Yet we tend to think about infrastructure resilience only when something goes wrong.
Aviation is part of the infrastructure through which Britain trades, attracts investment and participates in the global economy. It moves high-value and time-sensitive goods, supports business and investment, and connects regional economies to international markets. Its importance extends well beyond the boundaries of individual airports.
Resilience, therefore, cannot be measured solely by an airport’s ability to withstand disruption. It depends on the strength and diversity of the wider network, the availability of alternative capacity, the interdependencies between air and surface transport, and the consequences for the national economy when a critical connection is lost. Capabilities that disappear today may take years to replace.
“Resilience is not simply about protecting the infrastructure we have. It is about taking responsibility for the infrastructure the country will need”
The challenge is to look beyond the performance of individual assets and ask whether we have built and maintained the infrastructure the country needs to adapt, recover and prosper in an uncertain future. For the UK, this is not simply an engineering or operational question; it is a matter of national economic strategy and goes to the heart of concerns over resilience.
This also raises a fundamental question of stewardship. Are we managing aviation infrastructure primarily as a collection of commercial assets, judged by their individual performance and financial returns, or are we stewarding it as part of the wider system that sustains the country’s prosperity and security?
Government needs to consider not only how our aviation infrastructure performs today, but also whether the decisions we make now preserve the capacity, connectivity and flexibility the UK may need tomorrow. Resilience is not simply about protecting the infrastructure we have. It is about taking responsibility for the infrastructure the country will need.
After starting her career with Reuters and spending five years working in Spain, she followed her passion into aviation. Since 2000, she has worked with airports on acquisitions, forecasting, strategy and innovation projects, developing a particular interest in air cargo.
Sally is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT), a member of its Aviation Policy Group, and a Member of the Royal Aeronautical Society. She holds an MBA from the University of Kent and a PhD from Cranfield University, where she continues to lecture in air transport management. She also teaches air cargo and logistics at several universities and was part of the strategic team supporting the Development Consent Order (DCO) process for Manston Airport for nine years.
Today she combines consultancy, research and teaching, helping audiences discover the hidden networks that keep goods moving around the world.