17 JUNE 2019

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Article from BTNews 17 JUNE 2019

Disability dominates airport EXPO

“Wheelchairs are not baggage, they are an extension of our bodies. They are what we need to get around”.

The speaker Frank Gardner OBE, the BBC’s security correspondent, on the subject of disabled air travellers at last week’s British-Irish Airports EXPO. He is now something of an expert, a wheelchair user since being shot six times in an al-Qaeda gun attack in Saudi Arabia in 2004. He related several poor personal experiences with major airlines as he continued determinedly with his difficult job.

In March 2018, Gardner was stuck on an Ethiopian Airlines aircraft at Heathrow for 100min. Immediately afterward, the airport’s chief executive, John Holland-Kaye, met him to ask to discuss the way forward. Gardner now rates Heathrow and Gatwick among the best for disabled passengers.

Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) director of consumer and markets Paul Smith said requests for special assistance were rising across the UK at twice the rate that passenger numbers are increasing. He pointed out that the CAA has set up the world’s first national accessibility framework for airports,

He added: “We at the CAA will continue to push for some of the most vulnerable people in our society to be given a great experience when they use airports and airlines.

“We consider that the community expects nothing less.”

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OUR READERS' FINEST WORDS (All times and dates are GMT)

All comments are filtered to exclude any excesses but the Editor does not have to agree with what is being said. 100 words maximum


Robbie Shaw,

Disagree completely that Gatwick is disability friendly airport. While they allow easyJet to flaunt the use of airbridges they never will be disability friendly. They could also do something about the many lifts that do not work.


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