Three airports ‘need to improve’ handling of disabled passengers, regulator finds 

Heathrow, Edinburgh and Prestwick airports have been highlighted by the aviation regulator as “needing improvement’ in their handling of disabled passengers.

 

The Civil Aviation Authority’s annual accessibility report covering 28 UK airports found that the majority rated positively, but three need improvement.

 

All airports rated as needing improvement last year are all now rated ‘good’ (Bristol, Liverpool and Norwich) or ‘very good’ (Cardiff and London Gatwick).

 

This year’s assessment found that more people are requesting assistance services than ever before.

 

A total of 5.5 million passengers requested assistance at UK airports last year, representing about 1.9% of overall airline travellers. This has increased from 0.94% in 2010, 1.35% in 2019 and 1.69% in 2023 when 4.6 million passengers requested assistance.

 

The ranking of the performance of UK airports on the assistance services they provide to disabled and less mobile passengers covered airports with more than 150,000 passengers in 2024.

 

While Heathrow had generally good service levels at Terminals, 2, 4 and 5, the London hub “failed to assure the regulator that the data it provided on waiting time standards at Terminal 3 was an accurate reflection of the provision of service, meaning it is not clear that waiting time standards were met at Terminal 3”.

 

Edinburgh, Scotland’s busiest airport, “did not meet the standards for the provision of assistance in a timely manner, primarily due to operational issues caused by a change of contractor for its service provider earlier in the year, which now appears to be resolved”.

 

Prestwick “failed to meet the standards to consult with disabled groups and individuals, although it has now committed to putting in place an access forum,” the report stated.

 

The ratings show that 11 airports achieved a ‘very good’ rating with Cardiff and Gatwick both showing significant improvement.

 

The top rating were Belfast City, East Midlands, Newcastle, Teeside, Aberdeen, Belfast International, Bournemouth, Exeter and Luton.

 

The majority of airports, 14 in total, received a ‘good’ ranking.

 

Bristol, Liverpool and Norwich showed major improvement after being rated as needing improvement last year.

 

Birmingham, Inverness, London City and Manchester all retained a ‘good’ rating this year.

 

City of Derry, Cornwall Newquay, Glasgow, Leeds Bradford,  Stansted, Southend and Southampton were also rated as ‘good’ in this year’s assessment.

 

Airports were assessed in three areas - performance against waiting time targets for arriving and departing passengers including accuracy and robustness of data collection; a satisfaction survey of users of the assistance service; and consultation with disabled individuals and organisations, through access forums.

 

The CAA initiated an airport accessibility framework in 2014, setting out a key set of standards. 

 

Group director for consumers and markets Selina Chadha said: “It is welcome that most airports scored positively, but there is clearly more to do from those found to be needing improvement. 

 

“With demand for these services rising dramatically in recent years, all airports have a huge challenge ahead to ensure they continue to offer the assistance services their passengers deserve.” 

 

She noted: “We want disabled passengers and those with limited mobility to be confident when travelling through UK airports. Our mission is to protect people and enable aerospace and we believe that entire industry should be behind the goal of making aviation accessible to all."