Loader was promoted to air commodore in 1999 and became Air Commodore for the Harriers in 2000. Promoted again, this time to air vice marshal, he was appointed as Assistant Chief of Defence Staff (Operations) in 2002 and Deputy Commander-in-Chief RAF Strike Command, in the rank of air marshal, in 2004. Loader was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in the 2006 New Year Honours. Promoted to air chief marshal in 2007, he became the first Commander-in-Chief of Air Command on 1 April of that same year. He retired from the RAF in 2009.