With assistance from airport transportation and constant developments that improve the quality and purpose of transport equipment, paraplegic passengers today travel as much as anyone else. For instance, the 2008 Beijing Paralympics hosted games for various levels of disabled athletes, most of whom had to travel to China from all points of the world.

Much of the world has become wheelchair accessible, and with that growth in accessibility (as with any other developing situation), the kinks are still being worked out. Initially, ramps were put in to accommodate wheelchairs. However, while a wheelchair can be rolled onto an aircraft, there are still no safe means of securing one to the floor of a plane for in-flight occupancy.

Wheelchairs–like luggage and bicycles–must be checked, and wheelchair occupants are required to occupy airline-assigned seating just like any other passenger. Since most wheelchair passengers cannot walk at all, airlines have made some provisions for transporting them which require that they identify themselves as a special needs passenger at the time of booking.

Many airlines, in an effort to limit both costs associated with theft and injury to workers and potential injury to disabled passengers, have installed transport chairs in lieu of traditional wheelchairs. In the past, traditional wheelchairs were found to be problematic when transporting passengers onto the plane. Even worse (especially in terms of their bottom lines), they were easy to steal for a variety of reasons, making it harder to find one when needed.

The transport chairs which are beginning to replace traditional systems were designed to be ultra durable and virtually theft-proof, which has been a huge boon to an airline’s equipment budget. Particularly in this uncertain economy, replacement costs are a grave concern–wheelchairs are not only expensive, but they also have a tendency to wear down quickly with extensive use due to their typical chrome frame construction and lack of weatherproofing.

Another issue is that the standard wheelchair was not designed with easy passenger transfer in mind. At airports which continue to use traditional wheelchairs, transport workers are frequently injured on the job in their efforts to lift disabled passengers out of wheelchairs and into their assigned seats. Lack of training in the proper body mechanics necessary to facilitate safe transfers contributes to this problem, and makes transfers of elderly or otherwise frail passengers a particular concern.

The newer generation of transport chairs are designed specifically for every day, institutional use–the advances in design have made a huge contribution to addressing the problems airlines have associated with traditional wheelchairs. Automatic wheel locks, chair corrals, and non-folding designs have answered the problem with theft. Steel frames, weatherproof materials, and non-removable parts have answered the problem of durability. And finally, some design features have been proven to allow safer transfer of passengers from one seat to another, without added risk of injury to either the transport worker or the passenger.

These innovations in airport transportation systems for disabled passengers have made a significant impact on both the passenger experience and the airlines’ bottom lines.

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[tags]wheelchair, transport wheelchair, patient transportation, passenger transportation, airport transpor[/tags]