Airport Resilience: A Systematic Literature Review and Research Agenda

This systematic literature review applies the PRISMA protocol to synthesize peer-reviewed research on airport resilience. Using Scopus, 81 publications on airport-level resilience were identified between 2014 and September 2025 and coded for research purpose, focus area, method, and framework. Practice and gray literature were retrieved as a supplementary evidence tier, held separate from the coded corpus. Studies cluster into four research purposes and seven focus areas spanning climate adaptation, operations, cybersecurity, assessment frameworks, infrastructure, emergency management, and pandemic recovery. Nineteen category-level gaps were identified and then classified by what would have to change for each to be closed. These resolve into four deficit types: a narrowly drawn analytical frame (seven gaps), elements studied separately even though they operate together (five gaps), claims proposed but not tested against reality (four gaps), and unrepresentative samples of airports (three gaps). The classification yields a research agenda organized around four priorities: broadening analytical boundaries, integrating connected systems and processes, validating claims in practice, and extending geographic and institutional coverage.