The U.S. Transportation Department is proposing new regulations with the aim of making air travel easier for people with disabilities. Under the new rules, airlines that damage or delay returning a wheelchair would immediately be in violation of a current federal law, which would make it easier for the agency to impose fines on the airline.
The regulations would also improve and increase the training that employees get for physically assisting disabled passengers or handle their wheelchairs. Transportation Department data shows that airlines mishandled more than 11,00 wheelchairs and scooters.
“There are millions of Americans with disabilities who do not travel by plane because of inadequate airline practices and inadequate government regulation, but now we are setting out to change that,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement. “This new rule would change the way airlines operate to ensure that travelers using wheelchairs can travel safely and with dignity.”
The proposed rules would build upon previous efforts to help disabled travelers fly more easily, such as a 2022 bill of rights for airline passengers with disabilities. The department also published regulations that increase accessible bathrooms in commercial aircrafts.
