Legal scrutiny associated with mergers and acquisitions is considered the biggest risk facing the aviation industry today, according to a management survey.

Preliminary findings from the Willis Towers Watson Transportation Risk Index, which has so far questioned 147 industry executives, were revealed on the global broker’s blog last week.

CEO International for the aerospace division and Global Head of Transportation Mark Hue Williams says the “failure of critical IT systems” and “an over-dependence on national infrastructure” are rated the second and third-most significant risks.

Completing the top five are the “impact of natural disasters, epidemics or armed conflict” and “changes in seasonal demand”.

There is little quantitative difference between the top five, suggesting an environment in which primary risks are congregating, Mr Williams says. The increasing difficulty of prioritising single-risk strategies means enterprise-wide and community mitigation strategies are the way forward.

The research also uncovers startling differences in the way sub-sectors and regions of the aviation industry view risk.

For example, an inability to keep pace with technological change is the No.1 risk among airlines, followed by social unrest, involuntary migration and terrorism.

But companies in the space sub-sector rank the “increased security threat from cyber and data privacy breaches” first.

In general aviation the top threat is the “escalating costs of ensuring workplace safety and security”.

These variations mean the aviation sector lends itself to tailor-made, rather than global solutions, Willis Towers Watson says.

The full index will survey 350 C-suite and board-level executives this year, from companies with annual revenue above $750 million.