14 airports of AAI are now equipped with ambulifts

New Delhi: 14 airports of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) are now equipped with Ambulifts to facilitate flyers with reduced mobility under the Accessible India Campaign (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan) of the government. "To facilitate passengers with reduced mobility, Divyang passenger on wheelchair and passenger on stretchers, AAI has procured 20 Ambulifts for the airports which are having scheduled flight operations of Code C & other advanced level aircraft but do not have aerobridge facilities", an official statement released by the Ministry of Civil Aviation said.

The Ambulift has been manufactured indigenously under the 'Make in India' policy.

The facility is presently operational at 14 airports namely Dehradun, Gorakhpur, Patna, Bagdogra, Darbhanga, Imphal, Vijayawada, Port Blair, Jodhpur, Belgaum, Silchar, Jharsuguda, Rajkot, Hubli and remaining six are likely to be operational at Dimapur, Jorhat, Leh, Jamnagar, Bhuj & Kanpur airports by the end of this month, the statement added.

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 will provide convenient air travel to flyers with reduced mobility and also help 'Divyangjan' at airports where aerobridge facility is not available", the statement mentioned. Procured at a cost of Rs 63 lakhs per unit, AAI is providing the Ambulift facility at a nominal token charge to the operating airlines at its airports.

"The government has been working to take forward the vision of the Sugamya Bharat Abhiyaan in order to ensure fully accessible public infrastructure, including airports, railways stations and public transport systems", it said. This new addition of Ambulift at various AAI airports will strengthen Transportation System Accessibility, which is an important vertical of the Accessible India Campaign.

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