ELECTRIC NEWS
40 stage airport protest against AirAsia
Why no access for disabled?
July 19, 2007ITS tagline is ‘Now Everyone Can Fly’.
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One of 40 protesters are asking not only AirAsia but also Malaysia Airport Holdings to make provisions for disabled passengers. — Picture: GUANG MING DAILYBut, on Monday, budget carrier AirAsia came under fire from a Malaysian transport access group for not having facilities for disabled people to board its flights, reported The New Straits Times.
About 40 members of Barrier-free Environment and Accessible Transport Group (Beat) staged a peaceful protest at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport Low-Cost Carrier Terminal after one of them was unable to book a ticket online.
Mr Peter Tan said he could not tick the box confirming he did not require special assistance on the AirAsia website.
HAVE TO BE ABLE TO WALK
‘I couldn’t proceed because of it. And each time I contacted the call centre, I was told: ‘If you can’t walk. then we can’t take you. It is company policy’,’ he said.
Mr Tan, who is Beat’s assistant co-ordinator, said the AirAsia operator at the call centre informed him that if he could not manage the steps of the airplane by himself, he had to bring someone along to help him.
‘Even so, it will still be impossible for us as our carer can’t possibly carry us onboard,’ Mr Tan added.
Beat co-ordinator Christine Lee said there must be some mechanism AirAsia could use to lift passengers up to the aircraft, similar to those used to load luggage and food.
Ms Lee said AirAsia should provide facilities for passengers who are immobile and those with limited mobility.
The group is calling on Malaysia Airports Holdings to ensure all new and old airports are equipped with facilities to improve accessibility for the disabled.
An AirAsia spokesman declined to comment on the matter.
In January, The New Paper reported a similar incident involving another no-frills airline.
An Indonesian family wasn’t allowed to board a Valuair flight in Singapore on 23 Dec last year as their daughter was wheelchair-bound.
A Valuair spokesman said the policy was in place because passengers had to climb steps to get to the plane. There was no aerobridge in operation for that flight.
Another low-cost carrier, Tiger Airways, was also in the news last year after an Australian family wasn’t allowed to board a flight because of their wheelchair-bound daughter.
The airline has since announced measures to help wheelchair-bound passengers.
Category: AirAsia
Bernama – July 16, 2007: MAS, AirAsia To Be Asked To Waive Special Aids Fee
July 16, 2007 20:33 PM
MAS, AirAsia To Be Asked To Waive Special Aids Fee
KUALA LUMPUR, July 16 (Bernama) — Malaysia Airlines (MAS) and Air Asia are to be asked to do away with the fee imposed for the use of special aids such as wheelchairs by physically challenged people.
A fee of RM12 is imposed currently for the use of a wheelchair, Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Azlan Sultan Abu Bakar said when winding up debate on the Carriage By Air (Amendment) Bill 2007 in the Dewan Negara today.
Several senators had brought up the matter, saying it was unfair to impose the fee.
The bill was approved. The senate also passed the Malaysian Qualifications Agency Bill 2007.
The Dewan Negara will sit again tomorrow.
— BERNAMA
The Star – July 17, 2007: Order to Malaysia Airports and AirAsia: Ease movement of the disabled
Nation
Tuesday July 17, 2007Order to Malaysia Airports and AirAsia: Ease movement of the disabled
Launched: Chan (centre), AirAsia chairman Datuk Pahamin Rejab (fourth from left), Fernandes (fifth from left), Deputy Tourism Minister Datuk Donald Lim Siang Chai (fifth from right), counselor Gu Jing Qi from the Chinese embassy (fourth from right) and Malaysia Airports senior general manager (operations) Datuk Azmi Murad (second from right) at the launch of the inaugural AirAsia flight from Kuala Lumpur to Shenzhen, China in Sepang.
PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia Airports Berhad and AirAsia have been ordered to thrash out their problems to ensure the disabled community could use the airline with ease.“I had a dialogue with representatives of the disabled community and fully agree that some kind of facilities should be provided to ease their movement,” said Transport Minister Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy.
“I have given instructions that something has to be done; I want to see solutions and want both parties to work things out,” he said, adding that upgrading of facilities at the Low-Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) had taken place gradually, such as the construction of covered walkways.
He was commenting on the disabled community’s complaints against AirAsia and the LCCT after launching the inaugural AirAsia flight from Kuala Lumpur to Shenzhen, China, in Sepang yesterday.
The main complaint by the Barrier-Free Environment and Accessible Transport Group was AirAsia’s refusal to take passengers who were completely immobile, suggesting that the carrier review its policies to provide facilities that were non-discriminatory.
On passengers being stranded at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) due to overbooking of flights by Malaysia Airlines (MAS) last Sunday, Chan said he was waiting for a full explanation from MAS.
AirAsia group CEO Datuk Tony Fernandes, who was present at the launch, explained that the carrier accepted partially paralysed passengers but had no facilities for totally paralysed passengers.
Stating that they would have to change the whole configuration of their planes to accommodate totally paralysed passengers, Fernandes added that it was not feasible.
He said that for such passengers, the aisles and the toilets would have to be bigger.
“For wheelchair-bound passengers, we do not charge them for the wheelchair but take them to the plane and physically carry them into the plane,” he said.
