1 July 2005
European airports will see free and improved disability assistance under new proposed EU legislation.
The terms of the proposal reveal that airlines will be charged for the service with airports providing complete assistance for passengers with reduced mobility free of charge.
The charge will be covered by all carriers and will be calculated according to each airline's percentage share of passenger traffic at the airport.
Pending approval by the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament, the new charges could come into effect as early as next year.
The proposed legislation follows a lengthy consultation into the rights of disabled airline passengers, which concluded that that the unjustified refusal of carriage on the grounds of reduced mobility should be prohibited to prevent unfair treatment.
The news also follows on from reports earlier this week that revealed campaigners in the US were calling for improvements to be made to assistive technology introductions at airports.
Many are now predicting that European airports could similarly be subjected to a technologically revamp to help travellers with impairments.© DeHavilland Information Services plc
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