Measurement methods and influencing mechanisms for the resilience of large airports under emergency events

Abstract

This paper establishes a measurement framework for the resilience of large airports, beginning with transportation resilience characteristics and determining how vulnerability and emergency capability affect resilience. This framework is then applied to quantitatively measure the resilience of Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK); set pair analysis is used to identify the main factors involved and determine the influencing mechanisms. This characterization enables a determination of how PEK’s vulnerability, emergency response capability and resilience have changed over time. The results show that PEK’s resilience has improved as a result of the interaction between vulnerability and emergency response capability. Vulnerability and resilience are mostly functions of the landside sector, and the total emergency response capability also plays a decisive role in determining the resilience. This evaluation system shows that the mechanism, nature and rates of the factors that affect airport resilience differ across various stages.