London’s Heathrow Airport to Improve Services for Disabled Passengers
Jackie Reddy December 19, 2017
The airport has unveiled a host of measures that it feels will improve the experience of disabled passengers at the facility.
London’s Heathrow Airport (LHR) has announced a raft of new services that it hopes will help to improve its overall standing among passengers with disabilities. This follows a report issued by the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in August, which indicated that LHR ranked low among passengers with disabilities in terms of overall customer satisfaction, reports City A.M.
Improvements will include lanyards for those who have hidden disabilities and signage to indicate special assistance areas plus British Sign Language translators. Commenting specifically on these improvements in an official statement, LHR said, “This lanyard is part of an established service initiated at Gatwick and rolled out in other UK airports, and is supported by leading UK charities including the Alzheimer’s Society, the National Autistic Society and Action on Hearing Loss. Special assistance staff, security officers and passenger ambassadors at Heathrow have been trained to identify the lanyard so they can provide additional assistance, or allow passengers wearing it more time or space as they travel independently through the airport.”
The airport also added that “The number of passengers requesting special assistance at Heathrow is rising at approximately eight per cent annually, with over one million requests in 2017 alone – more than any other European airport.”
These improvements are being made as part of a £23 ($30.7) million investment contract with OmniServ, which provides service to airport passengers with disabilities. LHR said that these improvements are being undertaken as a “proactive” measure following the report by the CAA.
Roberto Castiglioni, chair of Heathrow Accessibility Advisory Group, commented on these developments, saying, “This is a great day for passengers at Heathrow and we were proud to have been a part of ensuring the airport takes concrete steps towards being a more accessible and friendly space for people living with disabling conditions. We have more work to do yet and we look forward to working with Heathrow to keep on improving the journeys of all.”
[Photo: Shutterstock]
You’re Reading
Good news. Perhaps the authorities at LTN will follow suit. Trying to manoeuvre a wheelchair through the crowded security lanes at that airport is a total nightmare. ALC, on the other hand, is a breeze: separate entrance for wheelchairs and ditto for security arch and scanner!