Four UK airports provide 'poor service' for disabled passengers, says report
Heathrow and Manchester fared badly
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Four UK airports have been told they must improve the assistance they provide to disabled passengers by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
Heathrow, Exeter, Manchester and East Midlands airport were all rated as “poor” in the Airport Accessibility Report. The report hopes to improve the accessibility of air travel, so greater numbers of disabled passengers are able to fly.
Issues with the underperforming airports range from issues with long waiting times to travellers not feeling they were treated with respect and dignity by ground staff.
The organisation has told the worst offenders they must improve and has the ability to take enforcement action to ensure services get better if the airports regularly fail tests.
The CAA also found that numbers of UK passengers with a disability travelling by air has grown by more than two thirds since 2010 - far exceeding overall passenger growth over the same period.
Speaking to Travel Mole a Heathrow Airport spokesperson said: “Addressing the issues raised in this report is a priority for us.
"We apologise to those who have been affected and are taking action, including the amendment and retendering of our contract with new and higher standards of service, to ensure passengers who require special assistance, receive the service they rightly deserve."
The report is compiled by calculating customer satisfaction, waiting times and level of engagement with disability organisations. It rated 20 airports as “good” and six as “very good”- Birmingham, Glasgow Prestwick, Glasgow, Humberside, Inverness, and Norwich.
Richard Moriarty, CAA Director of Consumers and Markets, said: “UK aviation should be proud that it continues to serve a rapid increase in the number of passengers with a disability. Our surveys, along with the airports' own studies, have shown high levels of satisfaction among disabled passengers and we have seen some examples of excellent service where assistance is well organised and delays are minimal.
“However, East Midlands, Exeter, Heathrow and Manchester have fallen short of our expectations and we have secured commitments from them to make improvements. We will monitor their implementation over the coming months to make sure that services for passengers with a disability or reduced mobility continue to improve.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments