International and even smaller airports are a mass of constantly moving parts. They face many traditional threats – civil disturbances, smuggling and criminal enterprises, and, of course, domestic and international terrorism. Now they also need to counter the emerging spectre of global pandemics, cybercrime, drones disturbance and more sophisticated insider threats. 

Security crises are particularly impactive in airports; they are national points of entry and usually house a multitude of different countries’ citizens. Shutting down operations for security purposes will instantly hurt revenues through delays and loss of future income through reputational losses if passengers feel unsafe using the airport.