Efforts To Make Aircraft Cabins More Accessible Are Making Progress

Air travel disability access advocates used to be hardened against expecting any change in accessibility at airports and onboard airliners despite their appeals for even the smallest of considerations.

“In 2015 I was still being laughed at,” All Wheels Up (AWU) president Michele Erwin said. “I called somebody up, asked them to do a test and they laughed on the phone. They didn’t even hear the rest of everything I said—they laughed and hung up.”

But in 2016 AWU funded a series of tests to prove that wheelchairs and wheelchair protection systems could meet current FAA airplane seat standards—tests that opened both doors and minds. Talks that started at a conceptual level shifted to what was possible and have turned to the practical. Industry questions are now tougher, explains Erwin, as they move from the “why” to the “how.”

“The initiative is further down the ballfield than anyone realizes, and it is really at a momentum that I feel can’t be stopped at this point,” Erwin said. “It is something that not just the consumer wants, but the industry wants to see happen as well—airframers are working on this initiative and multiple OEMs actually have products for an [onboard] wheelchair spot concept in development.”

Established in 2011, Erwin’s group is the first non-profit organization to fund research and development for a “wheelchair spot” on commercial aircraft. Today, AWU is part of the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) Advisory Committee, a group tasked with assessing disability-related access barriers and advising the US Transportation Secretary on its findings. The committee counts multiple advocacy groups within its membership that address air travel needs of the deaf, blind and other disabled communities. A unified voice across these communities has helped achieve progress.

Later this year, the committee will travel to Washington DC for meetings with legislators and industry policy groups, where they will meet with a new US administration for the third time since AWU has been campaigning.

In the US, some 18.6 million people report having disabilities that limit their travel, according to US Transportation Department (DOT) data. Nearly 20% of them use wheelchairs or scooters and depend on them for their mobility at their destination. Air travel passengers using wheelchairs or scooters, however, must stow those devices at the airport, risking damage that can severely impact or prevent their mobility at the other end of their flights.

THE FEAR FACTOR

A survey conducted by Paralyzed Veterans of America found that nearly one in 10 people with a disability do not fly because of a fear of bodily harm, damage to their wheelchair or scooter, or aircraft inaccessibility.

Under the Trump administration, newly inaugurated Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has already indicated support for improving access to all types of transportation readily available to people without disabilities. During a Jan. 15 confirmation hearing, Duffy told lawmakers “disabilities come in all forms, shapes, and sizes … making sure that people who have disabilities have access to all modes of transportation, I think, is critically important and I would work with you and Senator [Tammy] Duckworth and the Department of Transportation to see what additional steps we can and should be taking—one, to follow the law, but two, to make sure that everyone has access.”

Duffy was confirmed on Jan. 28. He has the opportunity to build on significant strides already made toward making aircraft cabins more accessible. These include language contained within the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 mandating a study on the feasibility of in-cabin wheelchair restraint systems. Factors to be assessed will include the cost of equipment and installation, passenger demand, and the impact on safety as well as on the cost of operations and airfares. Based on the results of the study, DOT can conduct a negotiated rulemaking to allow passengers to remain in their wheelchairs during a flight.

FAA expects to determine the feasibility of allowing wheelchairs onboard aircraft by the end of 2025 and its study will aim to streamline the approach that installers can take.

CABIN DESIGNS

Meanwhile, design work is moving ahead. One convertible seat concept is being funded by Delta Air Lines. Its subsidiary, Delta Flight Products (DFP), and partner Air4All—a UK-based consortium formed by PriestmanGoode, Flying Disabled, SWS Certification, and Sunrise Medical—displayed updated prototypes at the 2024 Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg, including an economy-seat design and an upgraded version of a premium seat.

In Air4All’s concept, a seatpan folds upward to secure a wheelchair, keeping the existing seatback static and allowing for the retention of its headrest and tray table. Air4All has been developing the concept since 2019, with DFP joining the effort in 2023 to lend its production and manufacturing capabilities. As its design is refined, testing and progress toward certification has continued in parallel.

“As we move forward and move closer to certification of Air4All, both DFP and our consortium are taking a holistic view across the entire cabin,” PriestmanGoode director Daniel MacInnes said last year. “Similarly, accessibility requirements need to be integrated into the booking process to ensure that once certified, there are no unexpected barriers to slow down the rollout of the seat.”

Other onboard wheelchair concepts include Molon Labe’s Freedom Seat, a bank of two that collapses into one as the aisle seat slides over, making space for a wheelchair to lock in place. Another solution from Collins Aerospace involves an integrated restraint system and seat belt attachments, securing both wheelchair and passenger. Stowed when not in use, the Collins product takes advantage of unused space to avoid seat removal and modification.

Airlines are taking their own steps toward change. Airlines for America (A4A) member carriers have signed their Passenger Accessibility Commitment, which identifies four key areas for improving the travel experience of passengers with mobility aids—including reducing instances of wheelchair mishandling, advancing employee training and education programs, forming passenger accessibility advisory groups and supporting research for onboard accessibility solutions.

One such example is an advisory board formed by United Airlines comprised of 10 members of the public with disabilities who regularly travel by air.

“This includes a variety of mobility, deaf/hard of hearing, blind/low vision, and people of short stature,” an airline spokesperson explained. “All of our board members represent a constituency, as they all hold positions in government, transit, educational, cultural or advocacy organizations,” groups including The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, the US Air Force and the National Council on Disability.

In 2023 United became the first US airline to add Braille to aircraft interiors and expects to extend that to its entire mainline fleet by the end of 2026. The Braille signs indicate row and seat numbers and are also placed inside and outside aircraft lavatories.

Recent DOT rulemakings have also strengthened protections, implementing more rigorous standards for airlines to meet in accommodating passengers with disabilities, particularly those who use wheelchairs.

Next steps will involve establishing standards and continuing tests of onboard accessibility concepts to bring more options to market for airlines and aircraft manufacturers. Airbus, Boeing and Embraer are “extremely receptive to this space and improving accessible air travel,” Erwin said.

“We can’t put all the blame on airlines for not having accessibility in their cabins when there isn’t a product to purchase—they can’t make it happen if there isn’t something for them to buy,” she said. “I think it’s fantastic that we’re at a place now where there is going to be product available.”

A NEW MARKET

More than 1.3 billion people around the world—or roughly 16% of the global population—live with a disability, according to World Health Organization statistics, a figure set to grow as populations age. If many of them choose not to fly because of concerns about how they will be treated or whether their wheelchairs or other devices may be damaged, that represents a potentially massive new market for airlines and airports.

A December 2024 symposium jointly hosted by ICAO, Airports Council International (ACI), and IATA sought to address the needs of air travelers with disabilities and reduced mobility on a global scale.

Outcomes of the symposium will be presented to delegates at the 42nd ICAO Assembly this fall. The recent event “cemented consensus to build a global accessibility strategy” for states to consider at the upcoming assembly, IATA director general Willie Walsh said.

“Airlines, airports, and regulators all want to provide safe, reliable, and dignified travel to every passenger,” Walsh said. “But it is no secret that accessibility poses challenges for a significant number of our passengers who have disabilities ... Linking disparate approaches into a practical global outcome that will deliver for travelers without disappointment is the goal.”

Erwin sees the conference in Montreal as a landmark moment, reflecting on how far things have come since those early phone calls a decade ago.

“To be here now where IATA and ICAO had a conference to literally bring the world together for a wheelchair spot on aircraft … that was enormous,” she said. “You know, you’re sitting in that room that looked like the United Nations, and you feel like, I could quit today. I could close my nonprofit today, because we’ve done it—because the people in this room would keep it moving forward. That’s how much passion the industry now has behind this.”