Madam, - It is always a source of concern to Aer Rianta when somebody using one of its airports feels service levels have not been as good as they should have been.
This is no less the case with the young wheelchair-bound man, who experienced some unease while boarding and disembarking from Ryanair flights between Dublin and Newcastle-Upon-Tyne recently (March 25th).
It is important to point out however that responsibility for the embarkation and disembarkation needs of passengers with disability rests with the airline with which that passenger is travelling, or with its nominated ground handling agent, and not with the airport authority.
Special needs services are provided under contract to the airlines and ground handling agents at Dublin Airport by Greencaps, a company based at the airport. Greencaps is licensed as a ground handling agent by the Commission for Aviation Regulation.
The specific types of service provided by Greencaps depends on the requirements of a particular passenger as notified to Greencaps by the airline or ground handling company.
In terms of access to and disembarkation from aircraft for persons with disability, these services range from the provision of a mobile lift vehicle, which has long been available at Dublin Airport, to a number of specially-designed, light-weight wheelchairs.
These chairs facilitate a passenger to be carried by specially-trained staff between the aircraft and the airbridge or runway apron, and also wheeled along the aisle of the plane to his or her seat.
As Ryanair, in the majority of cases does not make use of airbridges, or of the mobile chair lift, passengers with disability on Ryanair flights at Dublin Airport are secured into the chair by shoulder belts before being physically carried up or down the steps of the aircraft by trained Greencaps personnel.
This appears to have been the experience of the young man, whose brother corresponded with your newspaper.
Aer Rianta for its part, has regulations in place which oblige all service providers at its airports to ensure that passengers with disability can make full use of their services.
Aer Rianta also continues to ensure that its own facilities, including car parks, terminal access, lifts, toilets, electronic information systems and telephones are as user-friendly as possible for persons with disability.
While the vast majority of athletes scheduled to participate in the Special Olympics in Ireland this summer, do not have specific physical disabilities, Aer Rianta is working closely with the Special Olympics Games Committee and service providers at Dublin and Shannon Airports to ensure that all visitors to the Games have an efficiently organised and pleasant arrival to this country and departure from it. - Yours, etc.,
VINCENT WALL, Director of Communications, Aer Rianta, Dublin Airport.