East Midlands Airport service helping those with extra needs in line for national award

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The Travel For Every Body Awards inaugural ceremony is being held next month and the airport has been shortlisted in the Accessible Travel Initiative - Transport category. The awards aim to raise awareness of the work being done to support travellers with visible or hidden needs and drive further change to make travel and tourism more inclusive.

Judges will hear how East Midlands Airport’s popular Assisted Travel service now supports around 100,000 customers a year - a number growing by around 25% each year and exceeding the growth seen at many other UK airports.

It is one of only a few UK airports operating the service in-house, allowing it to maintain high service standards and make swift, informed improvements. It has embedded addressing accessibility needs in the way the airport operates, rather than being bolted on as an after-thought. Decisions are shaped by input from its Accessibility Advisory Group, a forum made up entirely of disabled airport users.

East Midlands is one of only two airports to have recently gained the highest UK Civil Aviation Authority rating of ‘Very Good’ for six years running. Over 99% of customers say their experience is 'good' or 'very good,' recognising not just customer service, but also the quality of the physical environment, communication tools, and staff friendliness.

In its awards submission, the airport outlined a range of improvements to build on the success of the service so far to better address the needs of customers with mobility issues, non-visible disabilities and other extra requirements. These include:

·       Introducing the first UK airport WhatsApp-based live chat system for Assisted Travel customers. This innovative tool enables customers to scan QR codes placed throughout the terminal and car parks to contact the Assisted Travel team directly

·       Investing around £1.5 million in specialist vehicles, mobility aids and terminal accessibility features. This includes new electric ambulifts with improved boarding equipment, which take customers from terminal to aircraft, as well as self-propelled wheelchair options and electric mobility devices available for loan

·       Installing improved signage, refurbishing accessible toilets, providing dedicated Quiet Rooms and developing new Changing Places facilities for departing and arriving customers

·       Extending an enhanced accessibility training programme beyond the Assisted Travel team to include other airport staff such as Customer Service Ambassadors and Security Officers.

Further improvements are planned or underway, including the development with Transreport of a fully integrated digital platform where passengers can request assistance, get flight updates, locate support staff and provide feedback all in one place.

The airport’s approach has been shared with industry partners and regulators, earning it at seat at the DfT Aviation Accessibility Task & Finish Group, where representatives from East Midlands along with sister airports London Stansted and Manchester have been encouraging a higher standard of accessibility across the UK aviation sector.

East Midlands Airport has been shortlisted along with Luton Airport and Tripseed in the Accessible Travel Initiative – Transport. The winners will be announced at a ceremony in London on October 22.

East Midlands Airport’s Director of Customer Service and Planning, Mike Grimes, said: “We’re pleased that our Assisted Travel service has been shortlisted in these new awards. Improving accessibility to travel for all is so important and at the heart of our drive to provide the best Assisted Travel service we can so that we deliver an effortless, dignified journey for every passenger, every time.

“We’re really proud that our Assisted Travel customers value the service and rate it highly, often travelling further to East Midlands Airport in the knowledge they will be well looked after on the journey through the airport and onto their aircraft.”