Airport unveils new service for passengers who need help

Mitzi Callan and her son, Morgan, have been flying for years between their home in the Cayman Islands and Miami as he undergoes regular medical checkups with specialists in southern Florida.  

But the trips have been fraught with challenges as Morgan is confined to a wheelchair due to cerebral palsy and manoeuvring through the airport has never been easy. 

They have always had smoother travel in Miami because the jetways running between the terminal and the aircraft make for easy access to and from the airplane.  

However, on the other end of their trips, Morgan has always needed to be carried up and down steps between the tarmac and the airplane at Owen Roberts International Airport in Grand Cayman because without jetways there is no other way passengers with reduced mobility may board or deplane. 

Those days are over. 

Island Air, the fixed-based operator that handles general aviation in the Cayman Islands, has purchased two Ambistair units – electronic chair lifts that attach to the stairways used everyday by the general public – to ease the boarding and deplaning process for all passengers with reduced mobility flying to and from Grand Cayman.  

At a cost of about 12,500 pounds apiece, the units’ designs are based on the wheelchair lifts used in homes worldwide and run along a rail on the stairs as the passenger sits on the seat and is lifted between the ground and the door of the plane. Over the years, the process of carrying passengers up and down the narrow and steep steps has been especially cumbersome during times of inclement weather and Ms Callan has always been a bit apprehensive about the local leg of their journeys. 

“For the last 24 years that has always been my feeling as we leave the island,” she said. “How are we going to get from point A to point B? This piece of equipment offers a whole new focus for a disabled person travelling here. More people can now enjoy our island. Now no matter what a person’s disability, we can open up our island to them. I’m very grateful and I know that Morgan is. That takes a lot of the stress out of his travelling.” Island Air, which unveiled the new service during a press conference and trial run demonstration on Wednesday at the airport, will contract the service with all the airlines operating at Owen Roberts International Airport. The service is available to the general travelling public at no additional cost to them. Passengers requiring such assistance may make arrangements for an Ambistair unit when booking their itineraries through the carriers.  

“Lifting passengers up by stairs, especially to the bigger aircraft such as the British Airways 767, starts becoming rather scary to say the least,” said Edward Jerrard, safety manager for Island Air.  

“As a result of that, the regulatory authorities around the world and representatives of passengers with reduced mobility have been pressing the aviation industry for quite some time to put something in place. Where the issues have occurred are at the regional and smaller airports where they don’t have passenger loading bridges. It’s that much more difficult to get those particular passengers up and down the aircraft in a safe way, but also with dignity.” 

Kerith McCoy, senior manager of airport operations for the Cayman Islands Airports Authority, said Owen Roberts International Airport typically caters to the needs of roughly 200 passengers a month who require assistance due to their needs as reduced mobility passengers. Mr. Kerith said the airport has been undergoing changes in operating procedures recently with eye on improving the experience of the travelling public. 

“The airport is not in breach of a regulatory requirement,” he said. “But certainly industry standards worldwide encourage strongly and recommend that airports have suitable equipment for lifting and deplaning passengers with reduced mobility. Thus this step brings us in line with the recommendations of aviation bodies around the world.”  

Ambistair units are in use at airports around the world, said Paul Crowther, a representative for Aviation Equipment Resources, the UK company that sells the product. Airports in Malta, Norway and the UK have installed the services, as well as have locations in the United States. 

“In three and a half years, no failures have ever been reported,” Mr. Crowther said. “The units are guaranteed to work in all weathers from snowy Alaska to blistering heat in places such as Malta.”