Aviation watchdog praises airports for improving disabled access levels

Liverpool John Lennon Airport and Manchester Airports Group (MAG) have been praised by industry watchdog, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) for their efforts in assisting disabled and reduced mobility passengers.

The CAA assessed 16 of the largest UK airports on their facilities over a seven month period, up to October 31, 2022.

It found a number of airports provided an unacceptable level of service to disabled people and passengers with reduced mobility. The CAA wrote to these airports, telling them it expected them to do more to improve the quality of assistance throughout the rest of the summer.

The regulator produced guidance which encouraged airports to make assistance services more passenger-focused and effective, as well as spending considerable time at airports this summer to better understand the challenges facing them, and offer advice and support as appropriate.

This drove improvements towards the end of the summer period, but overall, the regulator ranked London Luton as the worst performing airport having failed to reach performance targets and for failing to make significant improvements to the assistance it provided in the seven month period.

Only Aberdeen, Belfast International, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Glasgow and London City were rated as ‘very good’ for the whole period under review. Liverpool and Newcastle were rated as a mixture of ‘good’ and ‘very good’ across the period.

A total of eight airports were ranked as ‘poor’ in early months of the reporting period as too many disabled passengers and passengers with reduced mobility were waiting for unacceptably long periods for assistance on arrival.

However, following significant progress, Birmingham, London Gatwick, London Stansted and Manchester were rated as either ‘good’ or ‘very good’ by the end of the reporting period.

Bristol, Leeds Bradford and London Heathrow are still deemed as needing improvement, as passengers have not seen sufficient improvements in the provision of service. Only London Luton airport continues to be ranked as poor.

The regulator’s report has praised those achieving a ‘very good’ rating and commended, in particular, Liverpool and Manchester Airports Group-owned East Midlands airports for introducing schemes which allow for personalisation of the assistance journey – for example requesting assistance only at certain required stages of travel.

Paul Smith, director of consumers at the UK Civil Aviation Authority, said: “The aviation industry has faced unprecedented challenges, but too many passengers at UK airports have been waiting for unacceptable amounts of time for assistance on arriving flights on too many occasions.

“We strongly believe that everyone should have access to air travel, and we welcome the substantial improvements that airports have made for disabled and less mobile passengers.

“We will continue to consider whether we need to take further action where airports are not delivering an acceptable level of performance, and not showing sufficient and sustained improvements. We want to see immediate further improvements, as well as airports being well prepared to provide a high quality service during next year.”

Paul Staples, operations director for Liverpool John Lennon Airport, said: “Airport staff and those employed by ABM, who provide passenger assistance here at Liverpool, have worked in partnership with a host of organisations and disability charities for some time, to better understand the needs of passengers with a diverse range of disabilities so that we can provide the best level of service and ease their journey though the airport and to encourage more passengers with disabilities to choose to fly from Liverpool.”

A Manchester Airports Group (MAG) spokesperson said: “We are committed to ensuring all passengers have a positive experience at our airports, including those with assisted travel needs.

“The CAA has recognised the ‘very good’ performance level at East Midlands Airport, and the significant and sustained improvements that have been made to our special assistance service at both Manchester and London Stansted in recent months. We want to assure passengers that we are fully focused on maintaining these high standards on an ongoing basis.

“Working in partnership with our assisted travel provider, ABM, we have invested in the training and recruitment of specialist staff, introduced new equipment and vehicles and set up a dedicated hotline for those needing extra help while in our terminals.”

A London Luton Airport spokesperson said: “We are committed to providing a simple and friendly experience for all passengers, and we’re sorry that we have fallen short on this occasion. We have been working with our service provider Wilson James, to improve assistance times for arriving passengers with reduced mobility, the one area in which we missed the CAA target.”

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