City of Derry Airport's disabled access among the best in UK outranking Heathrow and Manchester

City of Derry Airport has been hailed for the quality of its access for disabled travellers.
City of Derry Airport.City of Derry Airport.
City of Derry Airport.

A new audit by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), which surveyed airports throughout Britain and the North of Ireland, found the Eglinton facility’s disabled access was ‘good’.

The report assessed the top 30 airports in the United Kingdom (UK) on the quality of assistance they provided to passengers with a disability.

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It found Derry provided “a high quality assistance service throughout the year”.

The CAA noted that the number of people with a disability requesting extra help when travelling by air continues to grow significantly and has now reached over three million journeys in 2016 – a rise of over 66 per cent since 2010.

The report said that in terms of ensuring these passengers enjoyed a quality travelling experience Derry outranked Heathrow, Manchester, East Midlands and Exeter, all of which were deemed to have had ‘poor’ disabled services.

Launching the report, Richard Moriarty, the CAA’s Director of Consumers and Markets, stated: “UK aviation should be proud that it continues to serve a rapid increase in the number of passengers with a disability.

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“Our surveys, along with the airports’ own studies, have shown high levels of satisfaction among disabled passengers and we have seen some examples of excellent service where assistance is well organised and delays are minimal.

“However, East Midlands, Exeter, Heathrow and Manchester have fallen short of our expectations and we have secured commitments from them to make improvements.”