No UK airport has received a ‘poor’ rating for their accessibility performance over the last year, according to the UK aviation regulator’s annual accessibility report.
This year’s findings mark the first time since 2020 that no airport received a ‘poor’ rating – but the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said there is more work to be done to improve accessibility at airports.
The regulator has published its annual airport accessibility report, ranking every airport in the UK, with an annual passenger volume of more than 150,000, on their accommodation and treatment of passengers with reduced mobility and disabilities.
In the last decade, the airport accessibility framework has helped drive improvements at airports across the UK, the CAA said.
11 airports were rated ‘very good’ for accessibility, 12 airports were rated ‘good’, and only five airports were rated as ‘needing improvement’ against what the CAA said was a backdrop of stronger demand for assistance services.
Anna Bowles, head of consumer policy and enforcement at the UK Civil Aviation Authority, said: “Making aviation accessible to all is an important part of our work to protect the public and enable the aerospace sector.
“Progress is being made, and not rating any airports ‘poor’ this year is welcome, but there’s more work to do, especially by those airports we have rated ‘needs improvement’ in our report.
“We will continue to work with the sector to ensure that standards are maintained and improved.”
Belfast City, City of Derry, Cornwall Newquay, East Midlands, Glasgow Prestwick, Leeds Bradford, London Stansted, Newcastle, Teeside, Glasgow and Southampton all achieved the highest rating of ‘very good’.
Meanwhile, Heathrow, Aberdeen, Belfast International, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Edinburgh, Exeter, Inverness, London City, London Luton, Manchester, and Sumburgh received ‘good’ ratings.
However, the airports who were deemed by the report to be ‘needing improvement’ included Bristol, Gatwick, Cardiff, Liverpool and Norwich airports.
Responding to the report’s findings, Karen Dee, chief executive of AirportsUK, the trade body for airports in the UK, said: “Airports work very hard to ensure that those passengers who require extra assistance can enjoy the benefits of air travel and while there is always more to be done, we are heading in the right direction.
“More investment is being made in staff, training, technologies and accessible infrastructure, and airports are in continuous discussion with passenger groups to incorporate feedback, meaning we are confident that we will continue to see improvements.”
The UK Civil Aviation Authority launched the airport accessibility framework in 2014, clearly setting out a key set of standards for airports.
The framework details how the regulator expects all passengers with disabilities and reduced mobility to be treated and commits to posting accessibility results annually in order to hold the aviation industry to account.
In its first decade, the initiative has facilitated significant improvement in airport accessibility, including millions of pounds of investment in improved service and facilities, the regulator said.
This year, the report was written against a backdrop of significant increase in demand as passengers indicated a drop in satisfaction with airport performance.
Sophie Morgan, British TV presenter and founder of the Rights on Flights campaign, which is fighting for greater accessibility for disabled people travelling by air, told ARGS: “Rights on Flights is deeply concerned by the recent report published by the UK Civil Aviation Authority.
“We believe it presents an overly optimistic view of accessibility improvements at UK airports and overlooks the systemic failures that we know disabled people are facing…
“Several major airports remain in the ‘needs improvement’ category and is not satisfactory in our opinion.”
She added that “despite marginal progress in most airports, the report proves to be excessively lenient in failing to adequately address the persistent and catastrophic issues faced by disabled passengers across the UK”.
The Rights on Flights campaign is lobbying the UK government to increase regulatory powers and introduce punitive measures against aviation companies who are deemed to be failing to adequately support passengers with disabilities.
