Mobility Air Transport: A New Travel Option for People with Disabilities

Flying in a commercial airline can be a horrendous experience these days, with security requirements as well as the tendency of a lot of commercial airlines to pack passengers in like so much cattle in an attempt to further their bottom line. All well and good, but such effrorts are often at the risk of the health--physical and psychological-of the flying public.

These problems are compounded for people with disabities. If one is confined to a wheel chair, typically ones chair is checked as baggage where it risks being lost or damaged. Very often, an electric wheel chair cannot be taken aboard a plane at all. And if one is visually impaired, forget about having ones guide animal along with one. It gets checks into the baggage compartment as well.

In the works is a non profit service calling itself Mobility Air Transport that seeks to ease the burdens of flying for the disabled public. Mobility Air Transportat seeks to accomedate air travelers with disabilities by allow them to fly in comfortable, large seats with their wheel chairs and/or guide animals in the cabin with them. It will be a communter air service, flying out of regional air ports. Long lines, security checkins, and other hassels are eliminated. Upon arrival, Mobility Air Transportation will even arrange for one to pick up a rental car right on the tarmac. It claims that the price of a seat (about four per plane) will be comperable to a seat on an airliner. That may be a neat trick to pull off, but it will be interesting to see it tried.

Mobility Air Transport will fly disabled people who have been medically certified by a physician as being able to fly on an air craft. Besides mobility and visually impaired travelers, Mobility Air Transport will allow relatives, friends, or medical assistants who need to accompany the passenger as well as guide/assist animals.