Timeline for Wheelchair Space on Airplanes Taking Shape

Statement suggests USDOT approval for wheelchairs in the aircraft cabin is just around the corner, with regulations to follow.

Last month, just days before setting off on the Wheelchair Travel Group Trip to Spain and Portugal, I attended the 2024 All Wheels Up Global Forum on Wheelchair Accessible Air Travel. The event was held at the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Volpe National Transportation Systems Center in Cambridge, located just across the Charles River from Boston, Massachusetts.

The forum brings together industry leaders, researchers, and disability advocates to discuss the goal of putting a wheelchair securement space in the aircraft cabin. This year, there was a lot to talk about.

Readers of this newsletter are likely familiar with my reporting from the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg, Germany in May, where Delta Flight Products unveiled a new version of the Air4All wheelchair securement space and a more accessible lavatory for airplanes.

DFP demoed not only an updated solution for the domestic first class and premium economy cabins, but also one tailored for the economy class cabin, which could be installed on any number of aircraft types.

Earlier this year, Delta Flight Products applied for a Technical Standard Orders (TSO) Authorization, which would grant the company both design and production approval for its first class and economy class wheelchair securement seats/spaces. The applications are currently under review by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Aircraft cabin interiors manufacturer Collins Aerospace also joined the race to put a wheelchair on airplanes, when it introduced a prototype for an onboard mobility device securement solution. This video, which I filmed in Hamburg, was featured in the Collins Aerospace presentation at the All Wheels Up Global Forum:

These developments have been exciting to follow, and I am encouraged by the investments made by the industry — the goal of seeing a wheelchair securement space on airplanes is closer than ever before!

The All Wheels Up Global Forum focuses not only on the prototypes for wheelchair securement spaces, but on the crash testing and policy advancements that are also necessary to earning the federal government’s support.

At the forum, I had the pleasure of moderating a panel discussion, wherein I aimed to derive lessons from ground transportation (think buses, trains, and taxis), where wheelchair spaces have been provided for decades.

Joining me on the panel were Kristine Severson, Senior Mechanical Engineer at the DOT’s Volpe Center, and Randy Rivera, Applications Engineer at Q’STRAINT. Kristine’s focus on and research of the safety of passenger trains, and Randy’s broad experience at Q’STRAINT (the company’s tie downs are widely used in accessible vans, buses and elsewhere), delivered a robust and informative conversation.

Conversations were a critical component of the forum, and I especially enjoyed joining with other wheelchair users to envision the ideal future of accessible air travel — one where wheelchairs could move freely within the aircraft cabin, where lavatories would be accessible to the ADA standard, and where disabled passengers would be fully integrated into the aircraft cabin. Sitting to my left in the photo above was Kelly Buckland, Disability Policy Advisor at the U.S. Department of Transportation, who is doing tremendous work as an advocate and consultant on transportation accessibility.

Kelly recently shared the following statement that provides a critical update on where things stand from a government perspective:

The FAA has been conducting and supporting research on integrating wheelchairs in the aircraft cabin for a couple of years. This includes investigating the impact performance of wheelchairs designed to an industry standard used for other modes of transportation and developing the process to install wheel chair tie down systems into aircraft.

Currently we have not identified any major issues to installation, and mitigations for any minor issues are being developed.

We anticipate being able to make a recommendation on installing the tie down systems by the end of next year (2025) and from there it would take an airline or another group to request the approval and begin modifying the cabin interior layout to accommodate a wheelchair in the cabin. It is also anticipated that DOT would start rulemaking in early 2026 to require wheelchairs be accommodated in the cabin.

There are still some operational pieces that will need to be discussed with the FAA and possibly the need to request an exemption for use.

This statement provides the first real timeline from the U.S. Department of Transportation — it suggests that FAA approval for wheelchair securement in the aircraft cabin could come next year, and that the DOT would follow with a notice of proposed rule making (NPRM) to mandate wheelchair securement spaces shortly thereafter.

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Such a rule making would be done under the authority of the Air Carrier Access Act, and it would raise important questions — first and foremost, will the airline industry support or oppose a wheelchair securement space? Industry lobbying groups like Airlines for America and the International Air Transport Association have fought pro-disability regulations in the past. If the airline industry objects, will the DOT force carriers to install wheelchair securement spaces — and if so, how quickly?

These are important questions to follow, and follow them I will. For now, I will celebrate the tremendous progress that has been made over the past year while looking forward to continued engagement with the airline industry, government officials and advocates for equal access in air travel.