A number of airports gave an “unacceptable level” of service to disabled people and passengers with reduced mobility this year, according to the aviation regulator.
Luton was ranked by the Civil Aviation Authority as the worst-performing airport having failed to reach performance targets and for failing to make significant improvements to the assistance it provided between April 1 and October 31.
A total of eight airports were rated as “poor” in early months of the period as too many disabled passengers and passengers with reduced mobility were waiting for unacceptably long periods for assistance on arrival as international travel returned following the pandemic.
Bristol, Leeds Bradford and Heathrow are still deemed as needing improvement, as passengers have not seen sufficient improvements in the provision of service.
Only Luton airport continues to be ranked as poor, according to the CAA.
Birmingham, Gatwick, Stansted and Manchester were rated as either “good” or “very good” by the end of the seven months following “significant progress”.
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.
The regulator’s report praised those achieving a “very good” rating and commended in particular East Midlands and Liverpool airports for introducing schemes which allow for personalisation of the assistance journey – for example requesting assistance only at certain required stages of travel.
The interim airport accessibility report covered 16 UK airports.
The publication came after the regulator wrote to airports earlier in the year informing them that the experience passengers received was unacceptable and told those who were underperforming that it expected them to do more to improve the quality of assistance throughout the rest of the summer.
The CAA required several airports to put in place action plans, together with airlines, which saw marked improvements in performance.
The regulator also produced guidance which encouraged airports to make assistance services more passenger focussed and effective, as well as spending “considerable time” at UK airports this summer to better understand the challenges facing airports and offer advice and support as appropriate.
This drove improvements towards the end of the summer period, but overall the regulator found Luton to be the worst performer.
CAA director of consumers Paul Smith 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.”
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.
“Despite all of the post pandemic challenges this year, LLA has consistently been one of the top performing airports in the CAA’s customer satisfaction survey, with our special assistance service being rated four out of five by our passengers.
“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. A number of improvements have already been made and we’re now focused on working with our partners to achieve the highest standards.”