The Lufthansa Group hosted the first meeting of its Accessibility Customer Advisory Committee in Frankfurt earlier this week. This newly founded committee aims to improve travel accessibility for passengers with impairments or disabilities.
Customer Advisory Committee meeting
The North Rhine-Westphalia State Council for People with Disabilities supported this initiative with around 20 members on the committee. The organisation helps groups and social associations in the state. Members with visual impairments, limited mobility, cognitive impairments and hearing impairments are represented on this committee, with Paralympic athletes Johanna Recktenwald and Nico Dreimüller sharing their personal experiences and lending their expertise.
We want to work with the target group to further develop the travel experience for passengers with physical or cognitive impairments and make it as easy and self-determined as possible. The members of the Lufthansa Group Accessibility Customer Advisory Committee support us with valuable insights and recommendations. In line with a holistic approach, we are looking at the entire travel chain and the sometimes very different needs for barrier-free travel. We are focusing on all the levers that we, as the Lufthansa Group, have at our disposal to continuously improve the flight experience for all our guests,” said Dieter Vranckx, Chief Commercial Officer Lufthansa Group.
In addition to this, the Lufthansa group will support the committee with its observations, experiences and ideas to develop ways to make the travel experience of the passengers more accessible.
Making invisible disabilities visible
Lufthansa Group recognises that the majority of disabilities around the world are invisible; approximately 1.3 billion people live with some form of disability.
Keeping this in mind, the group will meet regularly with the advisory committee to gather feedback and discuss suggestions. Customers with special requirements for air travel can also share their experience and ideas to make travel barrier-free.
LBR Managing Director Ann-Christin Rauch said: “This cooperation is a milestone for accessibility, as it is the first of its kind between a self-help association and a private company. For LBR NRW, one of its main tasks is the solution-oriented implementation of accessibility, as it is not only essential for people with disabilities but also offers relief and comfort to the general public. We want to help ensure that people with disabilities also have the right and opportunity to travel as a matter of course. In addition, we want to use the project to raise awareness among other social groups of the importance of inclusion and participation.”
The group has also initiated a global program, “Hidden Disabilities Sunflower,” across all of its airlines, to support people with disabilities.
What do you think about this committee? Let us know in the comments!
