Over the last year, the Civil Aviation Authority has worked with 30 of the busiest UK airports to assess their performance in PRM support, based on a number of criteria. These included wait time for assistance when departing and arriving; passenger satisfaction (according to CAA and airport surveys) and level of consultation between airports and disability organisations regarding assistance services.
All 30 airports have now been assessed and given a performance rating of “Very good”, “Good”, “Taking steps” or “Poor”. Edinburgh airport has been the only UK airport to score the lowest rating of “Poor."
According to Reduced Mobility Rights Founder, Roberto Castiglioni, "This low score is a testament of the correlation between low PRM charges and poor service output. Edinburgh’s former provider of services for disabled people had won the tender with the lowest bid ever made in the UK, 17.5 pence per passenger.”
The average PRM charge – a tax airports apply to all departing passengers to finance PRM services – was 28 pence per departing passenger in 2015.
Scoring in the next lowest category, “Taking steps”, was London Heathrow airport, Aberdeen, Bournemouth, Cardiff, Exeter, Doncaster Sheffield, Glasgow-Prestwick, Inverness, Leeds Bradford, London City, London Luton, and Sumburgh. At these airports, the CAA deemed that corrective action was necessary.
Demontrating ”Good” PRM services were London Gatwick, Birmingham, Bristol, East Midlands, Glasgow, Liverpool, and London Stansted. The highest mark, "Very good", was achieved by Manchester airport, alongside Belfast International, Belfast City, City of Derry, Humberside, London Southend, Newcastle, Newquay Cornwall, Norwich, and Southampton.
The CAA’s Head of Consumer Enforcement, Matthew Buffey,commented on the project. “Providing a consistently high-quality assistance service to disabled people and those with reduced mobility should be a top priority for the senior management of UK airports, and we do not expect standards to slip. To ensure that this is the case, we will continue to monitor performance standards and, where any issues do arise, take action quickly to protect the rights of disabled people and those with reduced mobility.”
Castiglioni, RMR, called this an important milestone, adding: ”For the first time, disabled travellers have an objective outlook on the quality of service they can expect to receive at each UK airport. More importantly, airports who under-perform and those with room for improvement are being publicly held to account.”
