ITB Special: One important aspect of the travelling population around the world relates to the so-called 'people with reduced mobility'. 

According to the European Union regulation, airlines have to guarantee those people the same rights of any other traveler, consequently increasing the space free from barriers. 

Manager sports cooperation of Lufthansa Airline, Jens Allendorff (right), a speaker at ITB Berlin on the topic, spoke exclusively to 4Hoteliers.com about the strategies to address the issue of the reduced mobility, the demographic changes of the travelling population and the latest trends in the sector.  

How do you address the issue of the barrier free mobility?

First of all there is an EU regulation from 2008 which pointed out very clearly that you need to provide the same access to passengers with reduced mobility as to everybody else. Lufthansa has made the changes since then. We do not have any more limits for passengers with reduced mobility. That means that you can even get flights, long haul flights, for example to India, where we [could] have around 100 passengers with reduced mobility. There is no limit. We cannot and we do not want to tell to anyone "no you can't be on this flight".

Are there also online services available?

You have every service you need when you have a reduced mobility. You can check in online and book online, if you don't want to you don't need to see anyone at the check in or do any special process. You can do it as if you are a regular traveller and also do on the mobile phone.

A person with restricted mobility has the same conditions under which to travel as anybody else.

How is the demography of persons with reduced mobility changing?

We see for example that more elderly people travelling who need assistance but still would like to travel. Maybe few years ago people would have said "oh no" and would have not considered flying or going somewhere, but now that has changed. These services have to be provided free of charge. It makes less of a hurdle to take a plane. 

One of the important aspects is also that the process between for example Deutsche Bahn and Lufthansa, we cooperate very well on this. If somebody arrives by train we make sure that there is a proper process between train and airline, so that you are not lost somewhere in between.

How do you cooperate?

It is related to the assistance: there is somebody who brings the person on the train and off the train, and at some point the staff at Deutsche Bahn hands over the passenger to Lufthansa. Then Lufthansa's staff will look after the passenger, but there is more often an exchange of practices between the two providers. It is much more coordinated.

Where are these services available?

The standards we have are on a European level, so whenever you travel to or from the European Union, you should expect the same service. Normally, it is a responsibility of the airport. It is a special situation in Frankfurt because it is our biggest hub and we are the biggest airlines, so Lufthansa has a lot of stake in the special services.

Are there any issues in terms of providing the measures?

Of course, you need to invest in this and therefore you need the resources. We have to increase the services and the staff that we have in place, but in general I don't think we see many problems. We have a lot of processes designed for people who have special requirements, and this is one of these. We have a lot of different options in place. Lufthansa, as a big airline is used to handling a lot of different requirements.

What are the latest trends in the barrier-free sector?

One of the trends is definitely the online service: you can book everything online that you need and you don't need to see a travel agent or you don't need to call anywhere. It's still a bigger share that uses [services such as] call centers, because they are used to it, but it is an increasing share of users that go online. 

What is still underdeveloped in the barrier-free sector?

From our point of view there isn't a lot. Considering also that we offer this service and you don't have to register at all, which is different from the Deutsche Bahn where you need to register to obtain the service,  you can book a flight, go to the airport and then say "hi, here I am I need a special assistance".  We need to provide this to the passengers. Lufthansa has already something in place, a very big system to support people with reduced mobility and it is also something where you have more control. The airline system is so regulated and also the airline's laws and mobility laws are so regulated that basically there is already a lot done.

This is strictly an exclusive feature, reprints of this article in any shape or form without prior written approval from 4Hoteliers.com is not permitted.

Luigi Serenelli is a reporter based in Berlin, Germany. He has previously worked for local and national publications on society and politics in Naples and Rome, Italy and now works with journalists across the globe as part of the international journalism organization, Associated Reporters Abroad (ARA).

Luigi has spent a large part of the last 10 years abroad and whenever possible he boards a train for long distance journeys.