The UK Civil Aviation Authority has published its latest Airport Accessibility Report, with findings showing that whilst the majority of airports were rated positively, three are ‘in need of improvement’.
An annual review which ranks the performance of UK airport on their assistance services for disabled and less mobile passengers, the report has shown that roughly 1.9% of total passengers requested assistance at UK airports throughout 2024, an increase from 0.94% in 2010, 1.35% in 2019 and 1.69% in 2023.
Selina Chadha, Group Director for Consumers and Markets at the UK Civil Aviation Authority, said:We want disabled passengers and those with limited mobility to be confident when travelling through UK airports. Our mission is to protect people and enable aerospace and we believe that entire industry should be behind the goal of making aviation accessible to all.
It is welcome that most airports scored positively, but there is clearly more to do from those found to be needing improvement. With demand for these services rising dramatically in recent years, all airports have a huge challenge ahead to ensure they continue to offer the assistance services their passengers deserve.
The report assessed 28 UK airports seeing more than 150,000 throughout 2024 against a standard framework, as well as covering general performance over the year from April 2024 to March 2025.
A total of 11 airports received a ‘very good’ rating:
- Belfast City, East Midlands, Newcastle and Teeside all retained their previously achieved ‘very good’ rating
- Aberdeen, Belfast International, Bournemouth, Exeter, and London Luton all improved on last year’s previous ‘good’ rating
- Cardiff and London Gatwick both improved significantly after previously being ranked as ‘needs improvement’ last year
The majority of airports (14 in total) received a ‘good’ rating:
- Bristol, Liverpool and Norwich all showed major improvement after previously being rated as ‘needs improvement’ last year
- Birmingham, Inverness, London City and Manchester all retained a ‘good’ rating this year
- City of Derry, Cornwall Newquay, Glasgow, Leeds Bradford, London Stansted, London Southend and Southampton were also all rated as ‘good’ in this year’s assessment
However, three airports have been marked in the ‘needs improvement’ category.
London Heathrow, whilst found to have generally good service levels at Terminals, 2,4 and 5, Heathrow failed to assure the regulator that the data it provided on waiting time standards at Terminal 3 was an accurate reflection of the provision of service, meaning it is not clear that waiting time standards were met at Terminal 3.
Edinburgh failed to meet standards for the provision of assistance in a timely manner, primarily due to operational issues caused by a change of contractor for its service provider earlier in the year, which now appears to be resolved.
Finally, Glasgow Prestwick failed to meet the standards to consult with disabled groups and individuals, although it has now committed to putting in place an Access Forum.
The Airport Accessibility Framework, first launched in 2014, sets out a key set of standards for airports, detailing how the the UK Civil Aviation Authority expects all passengers with disabilities and reduced mobility to be treated.
Airports are then assessed against the Framework in three areas: Performance against waiting time targets for arriving and departing passengers (including accuracy and robustness of data collection), a Satisfaction Survey of users of the airports assistance service and consultation with disabled individuals and organisation through dedicated Access Forums.
