Crisis management & the human factor
A wave of cyberattacks on European airports began on Friday, September 19, 2025, and targeted check-in and boarding software used by over 100 airports and 300 airlines. The attacks disrupted operations at several major European hubs, including London Heathrow, Berlin Brandenburg, Brussels Airport, and Dublin and Cork Airports. Although hundreds of flights were cancelled, the consequences would have been far worse if the aviation sector had not already been preparing for such scenarios.
The ICAO Crisis Management Framework (developed by the International Civil Aviation Organisation) helps the aviation sector prepare for, respond to, and recover from cyberattacks and other types of crises. Chapter 4 of the Framework (titled Resilience, Contingency and Crisis) provides high-level guidance for managing disruptions. Its focus is not on detailing emergency response procedures, but on providing a general structure for crisis preparedness, response, and recovery.
The essence of resilience, as described in Chapter 4, is anchored in airports’ ability to anticipate, absorb, adapt to, and recover from disruptive occurrences. This understanding of resilience is multidimensional. It encompasses organisational, procedural, and even psychological properties that collectively shield airports from harm, minimise operational downtimes, and enable rapid restoration of essential functions.
Processes, plans, and infrastructure are only as robust as the people operating them. The ICAO Crisis Management Framework repeatedly underscores, through its emphasis on training, exercises, communication, and the structuring of cross-functional roles, that decision making under pressure, situational clarity, staff proficiency and interpersonal coordination are at the core of successful crisis management.
Welliba’s study of employee experience and airport performance in the Skytrax Top 100
As part of our ongoing research on how Employee Experience links to business success, we tested whether Employee Experience (EX), as measured by our validated model and our AI-powered EXcelerate platform, could predict performance in the 2025 Skytrax World Airport Awards. Each year, Skytrax publishes its Top 100 Airports ranking, based on millions of passenger surveys across the globe. The rankings reflect the customer’s perception of the best overall travel experience.
We investigated whether and how the experience of employees inside the airport shapes how travellers rate their experience outside. To do this, we analysed correlations between EXcelerate’s 24 EX factors and the Skytrax Top 100 rankings. The aim was to identify which specific aspects of EX distinguish airports that perform well from those that reach the very top of the global list.
The chart below visualises airports and their respective Employee Experience scores, as calculated by EXcelerate:
What we found:
The following EX factors most strongly predicted higher Skytrax airport rankings:
- Workload:
Airports where employees report manageable and balanced workloads score higher with passengers. Overburdened staff translate into slower service, longer queues, and diminished traveller experience. - Actionable Feedback:
Employees who receive useful feedback can continuously improve their performance, directly enhancing the consistency and quality of passenger interactions. - Purpose & Meaningfulness:
When staff feel their work has purpose and is valued, they engage more positively with passengers.
Beyond performance, two deeper cultural drivers emerged:
- Autonomy:
When frontline employees are trusted to make decisions and solve problems independently on the spot, service becomes faster and more responsive. This could include proactively assisting a delayed passenger or resolving small issues before they escalate. - Team Dynamics:
Airports where teams collaborate seamlessly and trust each other deliver a more consistent end-to-end experience. Strong coordination across functions like check-in, security, cleaning, and retail ensures that travellers encounter fewer friction points.
Can measuring EX-related human factors help predict successful crisis management?
It would be intriguing to apply the same type of research to predicting crisis preparedness. For instance, which EX factors most strongly predict how well an airport would be able to handle the disruption of operations caused by cyberattacks? At Welliba, we share the ICAO’s convictions that the human factor is at the core of successful crisis management.
Based on prior research, we would expect a relevant link between the aspects of EX that help predict top performers in the Skytracks ranking (see above) and airports that do well at crisis management.
Airports whose employees normally report manageable and balanced workloads seem more likely to be able to successfully manage the significant additional challenges associated with a crisis. When staff feel their work has purpose and is valued, they seem more likely to be able to meet the demands during a period of stress and disruption. Purpose would act as a psychological anchor.
The same would apply to the deeper cultural drivers that emerged from our earlier study. With regards to autonomy: when well-trained frontline employees are trusted to make decisions and solve problems independently on the spot, crisis management will become more effective. Trusting frontline staff to act independently, within the scope of their responsibilities, is a cornerstone of agile crisis management.
The ICAO Framework explicitly states: “A crisis is a state where the normal and contingency procedures are no longer adequate. It, therefore, does not make sense to try and define yet another set of scenario related procedures. The crisis management plan only should contain a set of high-level procedures that clarify roles and responsibilities and communication channels during a crisis situation”.
Team Dynamics are also at the heart of crisis management: when teams collaborate well and trust each other, they are more likely to be able to act quickly and manage stress. When interpersonal coordination is strong, teams can react to a crisis with clarity and unity, rather than faltering in indecision or being slowed by conflicting views on how best to carry out their crisis management tasks.
Conclusion
In today’s aviation landscape, resilience isn’t just built on infrastructure: it’s built on people. Airport teams face a wide spectrum of challenges, from everyday operational pressures to high-stakes disruptions like cyberattacks. Welliba doesn’t just measure employee experience; it reveals the cultural drivers that equip workforces to adapt, respond, and lead through uncertainty. EXcelerate further speeds up this process by making it possible to learn from people and culture best practices in other airports.
Whether an airport’s goal is service excellence, crisis readiness, or long-term competitiveness, EXcelerate’s insights can help HR and business leaders focus on what’s needed to turn their people into a dynamic workforce that becomes increasingly capable of meeting whatever challenge comes next. That also applies to organisations outside the aviation industry: in the past months EXcelerate has been used in industries including banking, retail, healthcare, universities and life sciences.
Contact us to find out more about other case studies or to understand how you stack up against key competitive players in your market.
References: ICAO Crisis Management Framework (EUR Doc 031), Second Edition, 2023
https://www.icao.int/sites/default/files/EURNAT/Documents/EUR%20and%20Nat%20Docs/EUR%20Documents/EUR%20Documents/031%20-%20ICAO%20Crisis%20Management%20Framework%20Document/EUR-Doc-031-2nd-Edition-2023.pdf
