Airport Accessibility and Mobility: Infrastructures, Services and Perception of Passengers with Reduced Mobility

• Autor(a) principal: Gaspar, Sofia Raquel da Silva
• Data de Publicação: 2016
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.6/6360
• topic: Airport.; Autonomy; Ccessibility; Reduced Mobility; Domínio/Área Científica::Engenharia e Tecnologia::Outras Engenharias e Tecnologias

The aviation industry has changed considerably since the 70s to the present. With the liberalization of the airspace, first in the United States and then in Europe, there was the opportunity for the entry of new airlines with new types of offer. However, the quality of services provided to passengers with reduced mobility has not improved as much as the quality of services provided to passengers without disabilities. The right to accessibility is something that should assist all citizens. Transportation systems, in particular air transport, present some obstacles to passengers with reduced mobility, although there is legislation requiring the adaptation of airport infrastructures and aircraft for the safe and comfortable transportation of these passengers. A demographic analysis focusing on the average life expectancy allowed to establish that due to the increase of the world population and to the aging process, the percentage of people with reduced mobility is expected to increase significantly in the coming years, becoming this a significant target-population that demands and justifies the investment in the air transport accessibility. Although there already are some changes in services and airport facilities, this tendency should be expanded to all the airports. The present study aimed to explore the service needs of passengers with reduced mobility and identify factors that inhibit them to travel in this type of transport. Therefore, an analysis of various documents regarding these passengers' experience within the airport, since the airport entrance accesses to all the inside facilities, was developed to identify the main obstacles that compromise their rights. It was found that the terminals and their points of boarding and deplaning of the aircraft are the major obstacles in the land-air interface, as well as the use of services at the airport, which are always dependent on the help of a third person, compromising the passenger right to autonomy. In summary, this work is trying to improve air transport accessibility, through an analysis of the current situation.