AAI provides ambulift facility at 14 airports to help Divyang passengers

New Delhi [India], April 13 (ANI): The Airport Authority of India (AAI) has equipped 14 airports across the country with ambulifts to facilitate passengers with reduced mobility, the Civil Aviation Ministry said on Wednesday.
To facilitate Divyang passenger on wheelchair and passenger on stretcher, AAI has procured 20 ambulifts for the airports which are having scheduled flight operations of Code C and other advanced level aircraft but do not have aerobridge facilities. The ambulift has been manufactured indigenously under the ‘Make in India’ policy, the ministry said.
The facility is presently operational at 14 airports namely Dehradun, Gorakhpur, Patna, Bagdogra, Darbhanga, Imphal, Vijayawada, Port Blair, Jodhpur, Belgaum, Silchar, Jharsuguda, Rajkot, Hubli. It is likely to be operational at Dimapur, Jorhat, Leh, Jamnagar, Bhuj and Kanpur airports by the end of this month.
The ambulifts can cater to six wheelchairs and two stretchers with an attendant at a time and are fitted with Heating Ventilation and Air-Conditioning system.
The initiative taken up by AAI under the Accessible India Campaign (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan) of the Government of India will provide convenient air travel to flyers with reduced mobility and also help ‘Divyangjan’ at airports where aerobridge facility is not available.
Procured at a cost of Rs 63 lakhs per unit, AAI is providing ambulift facility at a nominal token charge to the operating airlines at its airports, the ministry said. (ANI)