Accessibility Initiatives at Airports White Paper

Beyond federal regulations to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), many airports across the United States have implemented additional methods to address the diverse needs of special guests. Despite efforts to address accessibility and inclusion within the travel industry, it is unclear how airports measure these initiatives’ success.

On November 15, 2021, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Pub. L. 117-58 (also referred to as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Legislation, or BIL) was signed into law. The BIL includes two new grant programs for airports.

Understanding airport customers is ever more critical to adapt operations to the current and post COVID-19 airport market.

 

More than ever, airports and concessionaires must forge and fortify a partnership with enhanced levels of collaboration and open, honest communication. It will take a strong team to rebuild consumer confidence.

COVID-19 has upended the commercial passenger aviation industry in unprecedented ways. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) throughput at all U.S. airports fell nearly 97 percent on April 14, 2020―the slowest day in US passenger air travel. Passenger traffic  remains below pre-pandemic levels, as indicated by TSA airport passenger screening throughput data.