Nation
Sunday August 5, 2007

Easier for disabled to fly AirAsia soon

By V.P. SUJATA

SEPANG: Low-cost carrier AirAsia will spend RM6mil to provide ambulifts and aisle chairs for wheelchair-bound passengers.

The new facilities are expected to be ready in three months and there will be no additional cost to disabled passengers.

The carrier has also gone one step further by promising to hire disabled people to provide services to disabled passengers, as they would understand their needs better. Also in the works are disabled call centres via its website.

These are some of the carrier’s immediate plans in response to protests by the disabled about inadequate facilities.

AirAsia chief executive officer Datuk Tony Fernandes said the carrier initially wanted Malaysia Airports Bhd (MAB) to provide the facilities but decided later that the carrier could do it on its own for the sake of its loyal passengers.

Discussions with MAB led to nowhere, he said, but solutions were found after discussions with members of Barrier-Free Environment And Accessible Transport Group (BEAT), a coalition of 18 non-governmental organisations for the disabled which led the protest last month.

The ambulifts will be placed at the carrier’s hub here and another in Kota Kinabalu. Prior to this, the carrier’s staff had to physically carry disabled people on board.

Aisle wheelchairs will be used to push disabled passengers to their seats.

Fernandes said that BEAT had offered to train AirAsia cabin crew and call centre staff to handle disabled guests.

He said seven disabled people would be employed as guest service officers and to help man disabled call centres.

For totally immobile passengers, he said facilities were inadequate but assured them that in emergencies, AirAsia engineers would be called in to remove some seats to enable the passenger to lie flat.

BEAT co-ordinator Christine Lee said AirAsia’s move benefited the disabled as well as the carrier because families with disabled members previously had to choose other airlines due to the lack of facilities.

She thanked Transport Minister Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy for his immediate attention and intervention in the matter.

Describing Fernandes as a “CEO with a difference”, Lee said AirAsia admitted its fault and resolved the matter very fast.

She said the disabled community would extend its support to the low-cost carrier.

2007/08/04
AirAsia sets aside RM6 million for facilities catering to the disabled
By : Hamidah Atan
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PUTRAJAYA, Sat.:

AirAsia is living up to its tagline “Now Everyone Can Fly” with the introduction of several facilities for disabled travellers.
Yesterday, its chief executive Datuk Tony Fernandes launched the facilities, including ambu-lifts and special aisle wheelchairs, for passengers requiring assistance at its low-cost carrier terminal (LCCT) near here.

The budget airline had set aside RM6 million for the purchase of the equipment.

For a start, two ambu-lifts will be used at its terminals in Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu to get the disabled into its planes without having to be carried by ground staff.

Other terminals will feature similar amenities within four months while all new planes will be equipped with the aisle wheelchairs so that the disabled can move around on board.
As a mark of further co-operation between AirAsia and the disabled community, AirAsia will also hire handicapped people to work at its guest services counters and call centres.

Its website will also be upgraded so that the disabled can use it.

“What we can do for them, we will do and what we cannot do, we will pass to the Malaysia Airports Holding Berhad (MAHB). We will try to do our best for them.

“For total immobile passengers, we are working with airbus engineers so that they can be helped. However, it is important that they give us at least a three-hour notice so that we can change the seats for them,” Fernandes said after launching the facilities together with Barrier-Free Environment And Accessible Transport Group (Beat) members, including its coordinator Christine Lee and her assistant Peter Tan.

Transport Minister Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy recently issued a directive to AirAsia and MAHB over complaints from wheelchair-bound passengers that the low-cost carrier had refused to accommodate them on its flights.

On June 15, Beat members had staged a protest at the terminal over the airline’s refusal to accept passengers requiring special assistance.

The group had called on the airline to provide facilities for passengers who were immobile and those with limited mobility and for MAHB to ensure all existing and new airports were equipped with facilities for the disabled.

Fernandes had denied that the airline had turned away wheelchair-bound passengers, saying ground staff would take such passengers to the aircraft and carry them on board.

He had said they were not even charged and there was certainly no discrimination against them as all they had to do was to inform AirAsia in advance of the assistance they needed.

Meanwhile, Fernandes said AirAsia has submitted a request to the government requesting limited access into Singapore, that being two flights a day.

“What is good for Malaysia is not protection. Since AirAsia has come along, Malaysia Airlines (MAS) has got a lot better.

“My view on protection is old-fashioned,” he said in response to the statement by MAS managing director Datuk Idris Jala that MAS was against the idea of allowing limited flights by low-cost carriers to Singapore, saying that MAS needed time to get back on its feet.

Speech by Christine Lee, BEAT’s Coordinator
In conjuction with the Press Conference by AirAsia with BEAT
Date : 4th August, 2007, Time : 11 am
Venue : LCCT Departure Hall, Sepang

Dato’ Tony Fernandes, Group CEO of AirAsia Malaysia Berhad,
Staff of AirAsia,
Representatives and friends of BEAT,
Members of the press and televison,
Caring volunteers and supporters,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

A very good morning and salam sejahtera to all of you !

First of all, on behalf of Barrier-free Environment and Accessible Transport Group ( BEAT), I wish to thank AirAsia for inviting BEAT to attend this meaningful occasion.

For those who may still not be aware, BEAT is a coalition of 18 NGOs representing the voices and interests of various disability groups comprising thousands of members all over Klang Valley and Malaysia. BEAT is actively advocating for a barrier-free environment and accessible transport and an inclusive society for all.

BEAT welcomes the announcement made by AirAsia to enhance its facilities or amenities which include the provision of ambu-lifts, aisle chair in aircraft and assistance to travellers upon request. We certainly look forward to the day when disabled persons can travel with greater comfort in AirAsia.

We are equally happy to hear that AirAsia is also looking into making their budget hotels accessible. We urge Skybus or Skyvan to include accessibility features in their vehicles to provide cheaper and accessible mode of public transport for disabled persons to commute from town to LCCT.

We thank Dato’ Tony Fernandes, who took time off from his busy schedule to meet us and gave assurance of his full commitment to resolve the issues highlighted. ( Dato’ Tony…..you deserve our highest applause )

BEAT also wishes to acknowledge and thank Dato’ Seri Chan Kong Choy, Minister of Transport, for his immediate attention and intervention.

The move undertaken by AirAsia is a praiseworthy initiative and a positive step towards making AirAsia, an accessible and inclusive low cost airline in the region. It is a significant step by AirAsia in empowering disabled persons and other passengers with reduced mobility by giving them equal opportunity to travel, like every one else.

The provision of such user friendly facilities and services must not be seen as a privilege and extended exclusively for disabled persons only. They must be understood as universally accessible facilities which must be automatically incorporated as part and parcel of the overall package of services that all airlines and airports must extend to all its passengers.

We must emphasise that these facilities and services benefit not only disabled persons but also senior citizens, other passengers and international tourists with reduced mobility as well as their family members. What is good for people with reduced mobility is good for everyone.

Freedom to travel is a basic and fundamental right of every person irrespective of the condition one is in. For too many years this freedom has been denied us! It is high time that this basic right is given back to us unconditionally! It is high time that disabled persons be treated as part of the public who are entitled to the same facilities provided to everyone else.

One of the keys to independence for disabled persons is that they can travel where they want, when they want, and how they want. However, this remains only a dream and far from the painful reality for millions of disabled Malaysian citizens.

50 years of Merdeka, disabled citizens in this country still face discrimination in their everyday life ! We cannot move around freely due to inaccessible public transport and built environment. The recent launch of new buses by RapidKL and RapidPenang are classic examples of how disabled persons have been blatantly discriminated against !! Despite many appeals made by the disabled community, Prasarana continues to launch non-accessible buses!!

The business community, politicians, policy makers and Malaysian public at large, need to be sensitized and re educated to understand the issues of disabled persons from “welfare-based model” to “rights- based model.” Disabled citizens need to be enabled and given equal opportunity to move away from charity recipients to consumers with the same rights as others.

We urge YAB Dato’ Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, as Prime Minister of Malaysia, to include issues of disabled persons into the top national agenda of the country. Our concern must be seen as a humanitarian issue which should become a concern of every one. We also urge Pak Lah to expedite the tabling of the “Disabled Persons Bill” to protect the rights of disabled citizens and to eliminate all forms of discrimination against them.

Last but not least, we wish AirAsia all the best and may you fly higher with us along !

Thank you.

Christine Lee
BEAT Coordinator

V Murugeswaran
BEAT Assistant Coordinator

Peter Tan
BEAT Assistant Coordinator

Barrier-Free Environment and Accessible Transport Group (BEAT) comprises 18 Organisations as listed below :-
• Persatuan Damai Orang-Orang Kurang Upaya Selangor & W.P
• Malaysian Spinal Injuries Association
• Persatuan Mobiliti Selangor & Kuala Lumpur
• Persatuan Orang-Orang Cacat Anggota Malaysia
• Society of the Blind in Malaysia
• Malaysian Association for the Blind
• Society of the Chinese Disabled Persons Malaysia
• Persatuan Kristian Shuang Fu untuk orang Kurang Upaya Kuala Lumpur
• Beautiful Gate Foundation for The Disabled
• Persatuan Pemulihan Orang Cacat Selangor & Wilayah Persekutuan
• Selangor Cheshire Home
• Malaysian Information Network on Disabilities
• Dignity & Services
• United Voice (Self-Advocacy Society of Persons with Learning Disabilities Selangor & Kuala Lumpur)
• Selangor Council for Welfare and Social Development
• Majlis Paralimpik Malaysia
• Malaysian Council For Rehabilitation
• Lovely Disabled Home

B U S I N E S S

Saturday August 4, 2007

AirAsia to provide disabled-friendly facilities

By V.P.SUJATA

SEPANG: Responding to protests by the disabled, low-cost carrier AirAsia said it would spend RM6mil to provide ambulifts and aisle chairs for wheelchair-bound passengers.

There will be no additional cost for disabled passengers, the airline said.

It said it would also go one step further by hiring disabled people to provide services to disabled passengers, as they would understand their needs better.

AirAsia chief executive officer Datuk Tony Fernandes said all the facilities and services, including disabled call centres via their website, would be ready in about three months.

He said AirAsia initially wanted Malaysia Airports Berhad (MAB) to provide the facilities but had later decided that the airline could do it on its own for the sake of its loyal passengers.

He said the matter could not be resolved after discussions with MAB but they found solutions after discussing with members of Barrier-Free Environment And Accessible Transport Group (BEAT), a coalition of 18 non-governmental organisations for the disabled who led the protest last month.

“The move will see AirAsia acquiring two ambulifts; one for the airline’s hub in Kuala Lumpur and another in Kota Kinabalu to transport disabled passengers directly from the ground to the aircraft and vice-versa,” he said, adding that prior to this, airline staff had to physically carry disabled passengers on board the aircraft.

Aisle wheelchairs, he said, would be used to push disabled passengers to their seats, adding that BEAT had also offered to train AirAsia cabin crew and call centre staff to handle disabled guests.

Fernandes added that about seven disabled people, after being vetted by BEAT, would be employed as guest service officers and at disabled call centres.

He said that the facilities would be inadequate for totally immobile passengers, but added that for emergencies, AirAsia engineers remove some seats to enable such passengers to lie flat.

“Encik, ini tempat letak kereta untuk OKU.” I told the man who just backed his Yellow Hyundai Getz into the accessible parking lot and pointed to him the large and unmistakable sign with the wheelchair logo.

“Lu mau parking sini kah?” He shot back with an annoyed look.

“Bukan, tapi kalau you park sini, pemandu OKU tiada tempat lain untuk letak kereta.” I pointed to the standard parking lots and continued, “Semua tempat lain tak cukup besar untuk letak kerusi roda apabila pemandu OKU nak keluar.”

He nodded with an extremely exasperated look and reluctantly drove out from the lot. I thought I had convinced him that parking in accessible parking lots would cause undue hardship to disabled drivers who needed to use the space.

Standard-sized parking lots are not wide enough to place a wheelchair by the side of the car for the driver to get out and in. The width of standard-sized parking lots is 2.50 meters while the width of an accessible parking lot is 3.60 meters.

A short while later Wuan who was pushing me pointed out, “See, he drove his car back into the parking lot.”

I turned back to look. Sure enough, the car was nicely parked and he was folding the wiper away from the windscreen. I shook my head and continue on my way to the LCCT-KLIA. It was not my place to insist that he move his car. That is the responsibility of the car park operator.

Of the 10 cars that occupied the 6 accessible parking lots at LCCT-KLIA car park, 9 were driven by non-disabled drivers. The other was mine. I had to get out from the car outside the lot and let Wuan drive the car into it. I would not be able to get out had I parked the car as the space between cars was too narrow for my wheelchair. How did I know the drivers of the other cars were non-disabled? None of the 9 cars had hand control kits installed and none had stickers with wheelchair logos.

It may seem harmless for non-disabled drivers to use accessible parking. However, such parking spaces are very limited. Rightfully, cars with disabled passengers must not use these spaces too. The driver should drop the disabled passenger near the entrance and park in standard-sized lots. When these spaces are occupied, disabled drivers will not have other places to park their cars.

Before occupying one of these spaces, please consider the hardships that a disabled driver has to go through. What is convenient for a non-disabled driver will cause a great inconvenience to a disabled driver. Please think before using an accessible parking.