Air travel accessibility: Interaction between different social actors

Abstract

Despite the efforts of regulatory agencies to set out requirements to ensure accessibility conditions in air travels, studies show that there are assistance inadequacies, because the services offered to passengers who require special assistance result from interactions between aircraft manufacturers, regulatory agencies, operators, and air travelers. They have different interests which remain little explored. The objective of this study was to discuss the social actors’ interactions that determine the services offered to these passengers. An exploratory research including 7 regulatory agencies, 377 passengers, and 20 traveling companions was carried out using semi structured interviews and questionnaires to collect their specific interests. A checklist based on current Brazilian laws was used to investigate the current air transport accessibility conditions in three airlines. The results showed that accessibility problems are mainly related to the inefficiency of services provided by operators, ineffectiveness of aircrafts in terms of passenger needs, or inefficiency of regulations.