Cabin4All
Accessibility in aircraft cabins
Today’s aircraft cabins do often not comply with the needs of persons with reduced mobility. Due to several regulations it is expectable that, just like railways already have, arrangements in air traffic will be set to improve accessibility in aircraft cabins. Cabin4All's target is to implement and evaluate measures, that provide an added value for affected persons but for all that being still efficient for airlines.
Definition of problems
Due to the fact that there are already valid or currently being prepared national and international laws and EU-regulations against discrimination it is expectable that just like railways already have, there will be stricter requirements of accessibility in European air traffic in a few years. Currently there are several supports for persons with reduced mobility in air traffic but especially during the flight only some needs are met yet. Flight industry is increasingly caught between necessary equipment for persons with special needs and the economic pressure to use all available space in an air cabin for a maximum of seats.
Aim of the project
The aim of the project Cabin4All is to set up a clear defined requirement catalogue as a key foundation for future aircraft development based on technological and ecological feasibility under consideration of what persons with reduced mobility need. The Cabin4All project is an exploration study that primary presents the cross-linkage between flight industry, carrier and effected people. Under consideration of valid regulations and safety requirements the project should show which measures are realizable, the benefit the project generates and which measures should not be pursued up to now. Based on this knowledge specifically developments can be pushed to improve accessibility in air cabins.
Method
The first step is to work out all requirements persons with reduced mobility have concerning accessible air cabins, whereby it is possible to fall back to an extensive consortium-know how. At the same time necessary measures to improve accessibility can be designed and checked on technically, operationally and economically feasibility. During the project several networking workshops will be held to bring together representatives from aircraft industry, carrier and potential passengers and define the specific requirements. The aim of this networking workshop is not just generating valuable know-how, also to built up a view on different needs. There are scientific experts from flight industry and railway industry working in the consortium. Many requirements have already been implemented in railways, so it´s easy to use the specific know-how for flight industry as well.
Results
The result of the project Cabin4All is a clear defined requirement catalogue about which measures can be implemented to improve accessibility and in which sectors additional researches and developments should be done to evolve bearable and useful measures.