At Milan Bergamo Airport we believe that the opportunity to travel is a right for everyone, which is why we have created a series of procedures and services to make our airport increasingly accessible.
Over the years, we have always paid great attention to passengers with reduced mobility (PRM). In order to guarantee availability and rapid response times, we have trained a part of our workforce to provide prompt and efficient response: the staff in the “Sala Amica”, the waiting room dedicated to PRM boarding, has the clearly defined task of taking care of both inbound and outbound passengers in accordance with clearly defined procedures.
In total, 34,695 disabled passengers were assisted in 2021, with a daily average of 95 interventions (+56.8% over 2020 and -41.2% compared to 2019).
Assistance to outbound disabled passengers lasted an average of one hour and 22 minutes, while assistance for inbound disabled passengers involved the use of resources for approximately 24 minutes.
The vast majority of PRM (92% of the total) had difficulty walking and used wheelchairs when boarding or disembarking from aircraft.
Other categories of disabled people accompanied through the boarding process include blind and deaf passengers (each category accounting for 3% of the total) as well as mentally impaired passengers (1% of the total), mainly with Alzheimer’s or Down’s syndrome, or autistic.
Our terminal is set up to welcome autistic persons who fall within the category of DPNA (Disabled Passenger with Intellectual or Developmental Disability Needing Assistance), with dedicated facilities, services and specialised personnel. In order to provide suitable and personalised assistance appropriate to the needs of individuals with autism, SACBO has implemented specific initiatives aimed at involving day centres, support structures and local organised associations which are capable of providing support to families and/or companions in preparatory and preliminary phases of air travel.
In order to meet the needs of every passenger, in addition to the Sala Amica, the heart of our service for PRMs, we have equipped the terminal with special instruments and devices; wheelchairs and modern lifts (ambulifts) allow boarding the aircraft with the utmost comfort.
Blind people can rely on pavements equipped with limited-incline ramps and dedicated preferential routes. Even within the air terminal there are preferential routes for the blind, as well as lifts and toilets specially prepared for those who have difficulty walking.
To assess and monitor the service provided, we continuously survey users’ impressions through dedicated customer surveys.
The 2021 results underline that satisfaction in the service provided is extremely high, with many items showing constant growth over the years and exceeding 98%.
Also of note are the statements of appreciation of the quality of the services provided issued by associations for disabled people during public meetings.
The results collected by the surveys are just the tip of the iceberg; objective acknowledgement that fills us with pride and highlights the desire of our airport to make a difference in this respect, but once again, the greatest satisfaction is measured not so much by the data collected, but by the smiles we see on the faces of our passengers.