The overall consensus found the rise in air travel for the remainder of the year and into next will be slow. Whilst 40% of passengers say they will wait six months or more before travelling.

In 2018, an estimated 3.2m disabled passengers flew through UK airports. This equates to 1-2% of overall passenger numbers.

easytravelseat, 2019

To date, we have not yet found any report that considered the specific views of passengers with a disability in the aviation sector. And wanted to expand on these initial findings. 

The key findings from our survey found:

Airlines and airports may want to pay particular attention to this when ascertaining appropriate levels of special assistance staffing both in the short and medium term.

However, this comes with significant concerns and dependencies of course. The most common causes of concern for those disabled passengers were;

• Lack of clean circulated air inside the cabin
• Social distancing not being followed at the airports and onboard
• Being in a confined spaces and close proximity to others
• Special assistance having to assist passengers through the airport including on and off the plane
• Inadequate seat provisioning and re-design making seats difficult to access due to the virus
• Catching the virus abroad

The aviation industry, could if optimistic, still expect to see 2 in every 3 disabled passengers continue flying, but with a big ‘if’. Airlines and airports will need to reassure disabled passengers distinctly of their strict procedures and processes that have been implemented to reduce these heightened, but of course expected concerns. 

Ryanair has already start such awareness, with the ‘Keep Europe Flying and Healthy’ video.

Failing to address such concerns could see PRM numbers drop consistently for the foreseeable future by up to 50-75%.

This should be a re-assuring message to the travel industry that the Purple ‘£’ remains relatively strong and coupled with the industry providing re-assurance and instilling confidence into passengers – the future outlook for PRM travel could remain optimistic.

Prior to COVID-19, 54% of respondents flew more than once or twice a year.

28% were unsure, along with an eager 20% saying they would return within a month or so (or as soon as it was deemed appropriate to do so).

Interestingly, we asked respondents when they decide to fly again, where would they be willing to travel, with 87% saying they would be happy to travel domestically and internationally, with 13% stating they would stick only to domestic travel.

To compare with IATA’s recent findings:

There is a common correlation (regardless of disability) that the industry is going to require confidence boosting measures. However, more emphasise will be required amongst PRM’s. In comparison to IATA’s 40% of passengers returning within 6 months or so, disabled passengers were at 25% suggesting a much slower return over the short to medium term. Additionally, 69% of IATA’s respondents suggested they could delay a return to travel until their finances stabilize. Whereas only 29% of disabled passengers stated their finances have impacted their decision on booking future air travel.

For more information, please contact:

• Josh Wintersgill
• Telephone: +44(0)7770510766
• Email: joshwintersgill@easytravelseat.com

Notes for editors:

• easyTravelseat – award winning transfer device for wheelchair users to use when being lifted on and off aircraft. You can follow us on Facebook or Twitter using @Able_MoveUK
• Between 11^th May – 25^th May, 330 disabled people across the globe shared their thoughts on flying in a COVID-19 world with a good variety of mobility/impairments and geographical responses across Europe, America, Asia, Australia/New Zealand and Africa
• IATA (International Air Transport Association) represents some 290 airlines comprising 82% of global air traffic

To see the report and a breakdown of all the findings, you can download it here:

The post COVID-19: Flying with a disability survey appeared first on easyTravelseat.

A year on from 2018 when myself and Charlotte first visited Naidex 2018, it was a target to be exhibiting at the event in 2019 – after the successes of the UK Disabled Entrepreneurs Award 2018, the first action for us was to book a stand for 2019. We did just that but in true entrepreneurial style to help on cost, we shared the stand with Limb-art from the awards. Limb-art provide prosthetic leg covers.

This year saw 16,000 pre-registers attendees which is quite phenomenal, however the official numbers are not yet known, although it was very busy. Across the 2 days, the 4 of us were non-stop discussing with customers, potential partners and retailers. To the point, we relied on Anne (middle right) being a fantastic traffic warden due to the queues of wheelchairs – exactly what we want!

Customers, potential partners and retailers were astounded by the simplicity of the product and how it helps alleviate the current undignified and uncomfortable process of boarding and disembarking an aircraft. Our stand tried to replicate the lifting from a wheelchair or aisle chair to an aircraft seat, purely for demonstration purposes – videos can be found on our website/youtube. The demonstrations were certainly a success, resonating extremely well.

Customer enquiries

We had queries from some customers asking if they can use their own cushion within the easyTravelseat. At the moment, it’s a yes and it’s a no. The easyTravelseat has been designed to be universal so it can be used almost on any aircraft, as we have to be mindful of seat width due to the transfer down the aisle in the aisle chair and impeding on other passengers in their seats next to you if the easyTravelseat is too wide. Customers can use their own cushion inside our easyTravelseat if; their cushion fits within the measurements of our current sizes and the cushion has a soft base. Customers with cushions greater than 2.5” thick currently cannot be used inside our easyTravelseat, this is something we are working on.

We also had enquires about more support in the upper body region including neck support. The easyTravelseat does allow for cushion to placed through the back, although we don’t supply those cushions at the moment, nor the head rest. We are now entering some work with a UK company to provide an integrated solution which I must say is extremely exciting, more to come on this. 

Lastly, some customers were asking about compatibility with Eagle hoist and the easyTravelseat, again this is something we are currently investigating, again more to come on this soon.

easy family of brands conference

A week after Naidex, we were in Central London for the yearly conference of the easy family of brands, hosted by easyGroup and its founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou. This was our first year attending the conference because we are a new licensee of the easy family, with the most famous being easyJet.

The afternoon involved an introduction by Sir Stelios, a brief history about himself from a young man running his own shipping company to launching easyJet, his philantrophic foundation and his easyGroup and easy family of brands – extremely inspiring! After, it was time for new licensees to take the stage, first easyNetworks and then ourselves. I was not aware I would be speaking until arriving there. Sir Stelios had an easyTravelseat at the front on a chair with over 150 people able to see it. The room was filled with laywers, bankers, easy franchisors and franchisees, so it wasn’t too daunting to explain to the room the journey from Able Move, to the awards and to the now easyTravelseat – we had a fantastic round of applause. 

The session followed with a break where we caught up with easyJet and have something exciting in the pipeline, including another photo opportunity with Sir Stelios. In the evening, it was franchisors to discuss their opportunities to franchisees including, easyStorage, easyCoffee and easyGym and then wine and cheese.

Customer Feedback

Claire Taggart, a GB Paralympic Boccia player flew to Croatia for an International competition the weekend prior to Naidex. Where we hand delivered to the seat to Heathrow on Saturday as it was not possible within the timeframes to post it. On the Sunday morning Claire used it and this is what she had to say along with photos of her journey:

“easyTravelseat is incredible. I’ve just flown to a competition in Croatia and I can honestly say I’ve never been comfier on a flight. I would usually get lower back pain and increased muscle tone when flying due to the lack of seat support but not with easyTravelseat. I felt comfortable through all transfers. If you are indecisive about whether to invest in one, I can highly recommend it

Claire Taggart – GB Paralympic Boccia Squad

QEF Tryb4ufly

Want to learn more about flying in its entirety with a disability? QEF Tryb4ufly have a host of fantastic information and even centres to try equipment out. Visit http://tryb4ufly.co.uk

Rocket Girl Coaching

Mary Doyle and how she can work with you on your most important challenges, find exciting new directions, make brave choices, and turn them into an outrageous success. Visit https://www.rocketgirlcoaching.com

The post Naidex 2019, easy family of brands conference and customer feedback appeared first on easyTravelseat.