Airbus pushes for greater passenger accessibility

Airbus brought an expanded portfolio of products designed to aid accessibility to AIX, ranging from wheelchairs to tactile placards. Many of the developments are being carried out with partners, or even with Airbus taking only a marketing role. “We can only solve the challenges ahead as a global team, as an industry, as a cabin and cargo interior industry. Nobody can do that alone,” stressed Eric Ezell, head of cabin and cargo innovation. “That’s why we’re totally open to partnerships. We have active partnerships already in place for a variety of topics and the essence of that is that we’re seeking to collaborate, to collect views especially with the affected groups who are working a lot to set the scene and give concrete examples.” Axel Becker, manager, trend research, emphasises Airbus’s customer centric approach, looking at the passengers and focusing not only on wheelchairs but on all types of disabilities – blind and low-vision, deaf and hard of hearing, cognitive, permanent wheelchair use, restricted mobility and so on. <br/>