Accessibility reports | UK Civil Aviation Authority

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is responsible for enforcing the regulations which protect the rights of disabled and less mobile passengers to have additional assistance at the airport and to get onto and around the plane.

We strongly believe that everyone should have access to air travel. We work with the industry to promote assisted travel and improve the consistency of the services provided by airports and airlines.

Accessibility frameworks

Airports

The CAA has published Guidance on quality standards for UK Reg (EU) No. 1107/2006 (CAP1228). This document sets out the regulatory framework for assessing how effectively airports support passengers with disabilities or with reduced mobility. It makes clear that airports need to deliver assistance to passengers that is consistent, reliable and responsible to passenger needs.

This document measures performance across three areas:

Waiting times for arriving and departing passengers, including the requirement to provide assistance for arriving passengers in one continuous ‘movement’ through the airport;

Quality of service, measured through passenger satisfaction surveys to capture the lived experience of passengers requiring assistance; and

Effective engagement with disability stakeholders through an Access Forum that enables disabled passengers and representative groups to contribute to service development and improvements.

Each year, the CAA assesses UK airports against the framework and ranks them based on their performance in supporting passengers requiring assistance. This assessment promotes transparency and supports ongoing service improvement across the sector.

The CAA also publishes Accessibility Assessment Reports each year. These reports are based on an in-depth inspection of a selection of UK airports looking at whether they are meeting their legal obligations and otherwise applying good practice in accessibility. They typically review areas like signage and wayfinding; assistance dog relief facilities; and staff training and disability awareness.

Together, these reports provide a comprehensive picture of accessibility provision at UK airports. They support continuous improvement, help share good practice, and aim to ensure that disabled and less mobile passengers can travel with confidence.

Airport accessibility reports

The CAA has also published additional guidance relating to airport accessibility:

Close Airport accessibility reports

Airlines

The CAA has published Airline Accessibility Guidance to set out the requirements of UK Reg (EU) No. 1107/2006 and other legislation and guidance for airlines (CAP2990). This followed from a public consultation for which we have published a summary of responses on our website.

The guidance sets out what action airlines might take to meet their legal obligations and aims to give passengers the confidence to travel, knowing that their assistance needs will be met while doing so.

The CAA intends to publish a series of Airline Accessibility Assessment Reports covering different sections of the guidance based on the information given to us by airlines. We started this process in March 2025 by asking airlines for information as the first of a series of requests to inform our reports. The reports will be published in due course.

Airline accessibility assessment reports

When published, the Airline Accessibility Assessment Reports will be available here.

The CAA has also published additional guidance relating to airline accessibility:

Guidance for airlines on assisting people with hidden disabilities

Close Airline accessibility assessment reports

Other accessibility reports

From time to time, the CAA also publishes reports on other types of accessibility assistance provided by airlines and airports.

Airline digital accessibility

We commissioned Hassell Inclusion to undertake a targeted website accessibility audit of eleven airlines. These airlines were selected on the basis of providing air transport services for the highest volume of passengers across UK airports, with consideration also given to the proportion of flights provided across the major regional airports.