The Paralympic champion Tanni Grey-Thompson is to lead a new taskforce created to improve air travel for disabled passengers, the transport secretary, Louise Haigh, has announced.
The taskforce will spend nine months speaking to disabled passengers to establish what are the biggest barriers to air travel, and working with the aviation industry to find short- and long-term solutions.
Problems that will be looked at include people being left on aircraft without timely assistance, people having their wheelchairs mishandled, and a lack of access to toilet facilities and information.
Haigh said: “Everyone has the right to travel with dignity and it is vital we ensure that flying is an accessible, safe and enjoyable experience for all. For too long, disabled passengers haven’t had the standard of assistance and service they need. That’s why we are bringing together this expert taskforce to drive forward change.
“This group will help break down barriers and deliver lasting and meaningful improvements to ensure passengers always comes first.”
The taskforce will include the presenter and aviation accessibility campaigner Sophie Morgan, who the fronted the Channel 4 documentary Sophie Morgan’s Fight to Fly and is the co-founder of the disability group Rights on Flights, which aims to raise awareness of the challenges faced by disabled air passengers.
“This is an important milestone in the ongoing fight for rights on flights,” Morgan said. “For far too long disabled people have suffered when flying and enough is enough.”
The group will meet for the first time later this month. Its membership will include industry representation from Jet2, Virgin Atlantic, Ryanair, BA, the travel agent association ABTA, assistance providers and London Stansted, East Midlands, Manchester and Glasgow airports.
Lady Grey-Thompson has previously campaigned on transport accessibility issues. In August, she said she was forced to crawl off a London North Eastern Railway (LNER) train at King’s Cross station in London on her way to the Paralympic Games in Paris because no staff were there to help.
The following month, the BBC News security correspondent Frank Gardner said he had to crawl on the floor of an LOT Polish Airlines plane on a flight to Heathrow because there was no aisle chair onboard for disabled passengers.
LNER and LOT later apologised for the poor service.
Grey-Thompson said: “It is essential that the rights of each passenger are protected at every aspect of their journey, so they can travel with the respect they deserve.”
