Aurigny pioneers lifting technique and wins London City Airport SAFE Award
4th December 2015
Aurigny is delighted to have today received a SAFE award from London City Airport, recognising the way it sensitively and safely moves passengers who have reduced or little mobility. Aurigny is pioneering the use of standard ambulance service procedures, using a “banana” board and sliding sheet, to move passengers from their wheelchair to their seat.
Aurigny’s Deputy Ground Operations Manager, Dave Cox, the airline’s UK manager Kieran Yule and Ground Staff Trainer Paul Phillips carried out the demonstration to airport staff at the annual “SAFE” event held at London City, in October this year.
Paul Phillips began training Aurigny ground staff in the sliding technique some months ago. The procedure is now standard Aurigny practice and the airline believes it is the first in the UK to employ it. Paul Phillips says: “Using a banana board and sliding sheet means that moving passengers is easy and doesn’t involve any strain on staff. We’ve received a number of compliments from passengers with reduced mobility since adopting the technique and they tell us it makes flying with Aurigny so much easier for them.”
Sharon Preston, the Director of Safety and Airfield Operations at London City says: “We are very pleased to present our latest SAFE award to Aurigny, who’ve demonstrated a significant contribution to safety in the way they handle passengers with reduced mobility. The airline’s innovative approach is an excellent story and one that we believe should be shared with the wider airport community.”
Dave Cox says: “This accolade is another “gong” for Aurigny in 2015 and follows on from our ERA, Airline of the Year, Silver Award. A number of our passengers have reduced mobility and require help when getting on board or disembarking our aircraft. It is important that this is done safely and with dignity.”
Kieran Yule adds: “The staff at the SAFE event at London City were genuinely impressed with our new method of helping passengers. We demonstrated it on a number of them and, as a fair few came from different UK airports, we expect the technique to be adopted more widely. It’s great that Aurigny has pioneered it.”