George Best Belfast City Airport has been awarded a ‘Very Good’ rating for its accessibility services for the third consecutive year in an annual Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) report.
The rating is the highest accolade available to airports and is given providing a consistent and high-quality service to passengers requiring assistance can be demonstrated. A total of 31 airports were surveyed with 15 ranking ‘Very Good’, 13 ranking ‘Good’, and 3 ranking as ‘Needs Improvement’.
Belfast City Airport is recognised for having regular consultations with disability groups such as Autism NI, Gide Dogs NI, and the Urostomy Association with the aim of listening to and responding to the advice provided. The airport has also invested in innovative solutions to ensure all passengers have a hassle-free and comfortable journey. It is the first airport in the UK to install accessible security preparation and repack stations and encourages users to provide feedback so it can continually improve its services.
“Ensuring the comfort and care of our passengers is vital, and our staff work hard to ensure passengers have a stress-free and relaxing journey,” said Judith Davis, Airport Operations Manager at Belfast City Airport.
“This year we have implemented a number of additional security and hygiene measures to help keep our passengers and staff safe.
“For users of the accessibility services, this means Special Assistance staff will be wearing the appropriate PPE and offer passengers the choice to use a Ramble Tag guidance aid. We also teamed up with the NI Hearing Loss Society to provide training to our staff on the impact of social distancing and wearing of PPE for deaf and hard of hearing passengers.
“All of our wheelchairs and touchpoints on vehicles are sanitised before and after each use with a thorough sanitising routine also taking place throughout the terminal each day.”
Paul Smith, Director at the UK CA added, “We want all passengers to feel confident with the flying experience. As the industry looks to recover from the coronavirus pandemic and consumers plan their travel for 2021, we hope that passengers with reduced mobility and hidden disabilities feel confident about the services they will receive.”
Other airports to receive the ‘Very Good’ ranking included Bournemouth, Bristol, Cardiff, City of Derry, Cornwall Newquay, Doncaster Sheffield, East Midlands, Exeter, Glasgow, Glasgow Prestwick, Humberside, Newcastle, Norwich and Sumburgh. Meanwhile the three airports ‘Needing Improvement’ include Aberdeen, Kirkwall and London Southend.
