The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has rated the UK’s busiest airport, Heathrow, as needing improvement in how it assists passengers with disabilities or reduced mobility
Three UK airports have been judged to ‘need improvement’ by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
The UK’s aviation regulatory body determined that Heathrow Airport must upgrade its support for passengers with disabilities or reduced mobility. The review conducted by the CAA also found Edinburgh and Glasgow Prestwick airports falling into the same category of needing enhancement in their support services.
According to the authority, these three airports have “clearly more to do” to improve their assistance provisions. Out of the reviewed UK airports, 14 received a “good” rating and another 11 were deemed as “very good”.
However, none were given the lowest grade of “poor”.
The judgments come amid increased scrutiny of how people with additional needs are treated on flights and at airports. Some shocking incidents were captured in a Channel 4 documentary last year, in which presenter and disability rights advocate Sophie Morgan asked 17 people who use wheelchairs or mobility aids to film their experiences.
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One had to sit on the floor of a WizzAir plane and push himself by his hands to the toilet. On the same flight, the pilot appeared to blame a delay in takeoff on wheelchairs being loaded on board.
And two other passengers were initially denied boarding due to their wheelchairs being “too heavy”, despite having provided pre-flight information. In another incident, a passenger on a BA flight from London to Paris claimed she nearly fell from the aisle chair used to transport her off the plane.
Selina Chadha, CAA’s group director for consumers and markets, stressed the importance of disabled and mobility-impaired travellers being able to “confident when travelling through UK airports”.
She said: “Our mission is to protect people and enable aerospace, and we believe the entire industry should be behind the goal of making aviation accessible to all. It is encouraging to see many airports receiving positive ratings, but those that require improvements have more work ahead,” she added.
Given the significant increase in demand for these services in recent years, all airports face a considerable challenge to maintain and enhance the level of assistance that passengers expect, notes Ms Chadha.
In particular, Heathrow, Britain’s busiest airport, demonstrated “discrepancies” in recorded wait times versus actual observations for passenger assistance at Terminal 3, as highlighted in the CAA’s report.
“Given these concerns, we cannot be assured that the waiting time standards were met at Terminal 3, and we do not consider that Heathrow is meeting the requirement for an airport to have robust processes in place for overseeing how it measures its performance,” the report notes.
This report reflects the situation up until the end of March. Heathrow’s Chief Operating Officer, Javier Echave, highlighted improvements, saying, “significant strides in enhancing our assistance service” have been made since last year.
“I want to reassure passengers that Heathrow has a strong plan in place,” he added.
Mr Echave highlighted coming investments, new security lanes, and broader support for passengers with additional needs, aiming for more autonomy during their travels.
“This ‘needs improvement’ rating provided by the CAA focuses on the administration of data recording in Terminal 3, based on audits which it conducted in late 2024, which we had addressed by the end of the reporting period,” Mr Echave noted.
The CAA pointed out Edinburgh Airport’s underperformance was partly due to shifting contractors, causing delays in passenger assistance but noted, “now appear to be resolved”.
A Glasgow Prestwick Airport airport representative said that that more than £6 million has been invested in supporting passengers with reduced mobility. This investment includes new processes and oversight that have “led to significant improvements”.
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However, the CAA reported that Glasgow Prestwick Airport failed to meet its obligation to consult with disabled groups and individuals but has since “committed to putting in place an access forum”.
The CAA highlighted that the number of passengers requesting assistance at UK airports increased from 4.6 million in 2023 to 5.5 million last year, accounting for 1.9% of all passengers.
Christopher Snelling, policy director at industry body AirportsUK, said: “Airports are continuing to have to adjust to these new higher levels of demand, so the generally good performance at this time is all the more pleasing. However, services can always be better, and airports will continue working with the CAA and accessibility groups over the next year and beyond to improve services even further.”