ACI EUROPE, the trade body for European airports, has published a strategy paper on hybrid threats and airport resilience, citing a growing wave of security threats that includes bomb threats, drone incursions, and cyberattacks, Airports International reported.

The paper, titled Strategy Paper on Hybrid Threats and Airport Resilience, sets out a coordinated approach and a list of key requests to strengthen the sector’s preparedness and response, the report said.

It treats airports as critical infrastructure whose role goes beyond air transport. According to the report, airports underpin European connectivity, economic activity, essential supply chains, emergency response, and military mobility, so protecting their ability to function is a matter of European security and resilience.

ACI EUROPE said airports are already investing in cybersecurity, crisis management, and operational resilience. It argued that hybrid threats, which it described as complex, interconnected, and unpredictable, require closer cooperation between airport operators, airlines, other operational partners, national security authorities, governments, and European institutions.

The paper proposes moving from fragmented, largely reactive responses to an integrated, forward-looking approach. It calls for a coordinated approach to hybrid threats across aviation security, cybersecurity, operational continuity, and crisis management, rather than through separate structures working in isolation.

ACI EUROPE also identified gaps in existing European and national frameworks, which it said often fail to reflect the complexity of airport operations and their dependence on external infrastructure. It called for a clearer division of responsibilities between airports and competent authorities, including on threat detection and response, and for dedicated funding to develop and maintain resilience capabilities across Europe’s airports.

“Hybrid threats can no longer be treated as a narrow specialist issue,” said Olivier Jankovec, ACI EUROPE’s director general. He said airports cannot confront such threats alone and that the conventional security rule book and cooperation mechanisms need to be reconsidered. Rapid intelligence sharing, clear responsibilities, and seamless cooperation between industry and local, national, and European authorities are a prerequisite for the EU’s security agenda, he said.

Jankovec said the aim of hybrid threats is not always to cause maximum physical damage. “Repeated disruption, uncertainty, and fear can be equally effective weapons,” he said, adding that they are designed to exhaust resources and undermine public confidence. He called for enhanced preparedness, coordination, and resilience in response.

Source: Airports International