On March 28th, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) gave the final go-ahead for the integrated alliance between Virgin Australia and Qatar Airlines, raising concerns around potential accessibility and inclusion issues for those with disabilities or mobility issues.
This partnership between the two airlines brings an added twenty eight weekly flights between Australia and Doha, with the promise of reduced airfares due to greater competition. Whilst this sounds fabulous for most Australians, people with a physical disability or those using a mobility device may be impacted by this joint initiative.
Qatar Airlines has an appalling record in its treatment of people with physical disabilities, with discrimination reported on at least a dozen occasions in the last 24 months. The latest involving a 12 year old boy living with cerebral palsy and his family who were denied travel due to the airline's lack of disability training and protocols.
In today's landscape of accessibility, occurrences of disability discrimination are illegal, unnecessary, avoidable and ultimately result in added costs to those discriminated against with little or no compensation.
On the weekend there was yet another incident where a person with a physical disability was subjected to unnecessary and unwarranted stress due to an airline's inability to provide reasonable adjustments and demonstrated a severe lack of communication for the passenger. This lies at the hands of Qantas. The passenger in question had not experienced these issues prior, so why now, why the inconsistency in policy and approach? Why do we, as people with physical disabilities, have to keep asking these questions?
With Virgin Australia possessing a better record in its protocols for those travelling with accessibility requirements, how will it ensure that its passengers flying with physical disability will not be discriminated against by Qatar Airlines?
Of further concern to people with physical disability, QANTAS has ordered twenty eight new A321XLR aircraft from Airbus to operate alongside its existing Boeing 737 fleet - with the first plane arriving in June this year.
However, this model does not seem to address the accessibility requirements of passengers who require access into the cabin and their seats whilst remaining in their wheelchair. Whilst technology to do so now exists, why is this technology not mandatory for new aircraft? Why don't aeroplane manufacturers make it mandatory for cabin design? Why is the airline industry nearly completely exempt from providing accessible transport when every other transport style around the world (trains, fast trains, very fast trains, ships, council buses, taxis - although not ride-sharing providers) have integrated the technology to do so?
Why is airline travel treated differently?
Surely if aircraft engineers have the capabilities to design, develop and build a plane that stays in the sky, it can incorporate a cabin design that accommodates wheelchairs.
One of recommendations from The Disability Royal Commission was to review the Disability Discrimination Act, thus the Transport Standards. This provides added incentive to enforce better access to airline travel for everyone – including those living with a physical disability.
The Australian Government's 2024 Aviation White 'Towards 2050' skirts around the issues of truly accessible air travel for people with a disability, despite providing an extremely generous timeline of 25 years. One of the goals of the White Paper is to "improve remedies for damage to wheelchairs and mobility devices". Surely the best remedy for avoiding damage to these items is to provide wheelchair accessible cabins and cabin storage for mobility devices!?
Jeremy Muir
CEO
Physical Disability Australia (PDA)
Key Facts:
PDA exists for its members, who fuel our mission to "enable every Australian living with a physical disability to realise their full potential".
Through our work, we advocate to government, create equal opportunities, promote diversity and inclusion and ensure that our values within the organisation (and our representation of Australians living with physical disability) are reflected, upheld and defended.
Established in 1995, PDA is one of a very small handful of Australian disability organisations that actually has members and board representation in every Australian state and territory. With physical disability affecting 76.8% of Australia's disability community, our organisation represents the largest disability category in our country. It is this visible and all-encompassing national footprint that ensures PDA truly has its finger on the pulse of disability in our country. This unique representative stance provides us with a strong voice and position to ensure that our organisation and members are heard and part of Australia's disability conversation.
Together with the support of our incredible members and the ongoing work of our Board, we will continue to shine as an informed, influential, visible, active and connected organisation that puts disability rights at the forefront of all that we do.
About us:
Physical Disability Australia (PDA) is a national peak Disability Peoples Organisation (DPO) run by people with physical disability for people with physical disability.
