PRM Events 2023
22nd March 2024
Our Terminal Manager attends the CAA Accessibility Industry Meeting. This meeting was chaired by the CAA and covered a wide range of topics, training and guidance for the aviation industry and ensuring accessible travel is available and the standards required. This meeting brought together a wide range of experience and service standards to share knowledge and experiences.
15th March 2024
Today we went back to Treloar’s School and College to the ‘Let Me In’ team – we spent some time with the students who founded ‘Let Me In’ #CreatingAccessibleCommunities.
Let Me In is a business being run by supported interns and 3rd year Employability and Vocational Students from the college. The Team of students conducts accessibility assessments of varied work places.
The team plan to visit us in the future and carry out an audit of our terminal building – the team will then produce a report with an accessibility score and information detailing the strengths and areas for development. For more information you can visit www.letmeinuk.org or www.treloar.uk.
During the visit we also spent time with the teaching leads for work experience to organise a pre visit to the Airport to carry out risk assessments and a site tour.
14th March 2024
Today we welcomed 2 young adults with autism supported by keyworkers from Priors Court School. Familiarisation of the landside terminal areas including check in, retail units, entrance to security, trolley area and queuing area.
We look forward to welcoming them back to see airside and security on their next visit with us soon.
23rd February 2024
We have a visit from a Guide Dog owner within the community who wanted to conduct some familiarisation training for their dog Benjie before they fly later in the year. Benjie got to experience going through security and had a walk outside around the aircraft stands to get used to the noises and smells. The visit was also an opportunity for staff to gain some experience with assisting a Guide Dog and their owner through the security process.
We look forward to continuing our work with Guide Dogs Guide Dogs
8th February 2024
A Member of our Airport Duty Management team visits Treloar school in Alton to meet the team and students and spending the day learning at the users. We are looking forward to working closely with them in the coming’s months to facilitate a visit for an accessibility audit and recommendations they can provide for improvements to all users.
30th January 2024
Terptree – changing the world for deaf people. We met with the CEO via video link and discussed our facilities post pandemic. Discussions were had around training for staff and varied departments at the airport along with a possible audit by Terptree in the future.
26th January 2024
Treloar School and College – Enabling education for disabled young people. A Teams meeting arranged for introductions and to discuss a possible partnership between the Airport and School. Introductions took place and a plan to visit the school discussed and arranged for the 8th February to meet the students we aim to work with going forward.
4th December 2023
Southampton Airport host an initial welcome meeting with Therapy Dogs Nationwide. The plan is welcome the dogs and handlers back on site from early 2024 for our passengers to provide comfort and distraction in the busy airport environment.
2nd November 2023
Southampton Airport hold a virtual meeting with Terptree, a Deaf Charity Organisation for an initial welcome meeting. Today we looked at the website We looked at their role in the Deaf community and connection world wide. We looked at their training and education role and at the options available for Deaf Employee Training Experience also.
27th October 2023
Accessibility Forum meeting held with Local Borough Council, Airport team, OCS service providers. Review of the previous six months performance, charity visit/audits and future growth changes at Airport will likely mean increased feedback session to ensure we are offering the best service before any plans are finalised.
18th October 2023
Autism Hampshire are welcomed to Southampton Airport today. They kindly cover training for our front line, management and project teams.
The day was split into two sections with small group training in the morning which was created to help better understand Autism by those who have Autism, followed by a full audit of our airport passenger journey to help provide recommendation for reasonable adjustments that can be made.
A fantastic day and we look forward to working closely with Autism Hampshire in the future.
03 August 2023
Over the past week key members of our front line and office staff members undertake Autism awareness e-learning as part of our on-going commitment to keep PRM related matters at the forefront of our teams awareness.
02 August 2023
We met on site with the PRM Assist App team following a successful trail at GLA airport with our PRM service provider OCS to discuss the system and its benefits to see if this can provide an improved service for our PRM's travelling to and from Southampton Airport.
26 July 2023
Southampton Airport meet with Easyjet airline, following the proposed increase of services during Winter 2023, this meeting was put in place to review the operational requirements for PRM passengers and plan ready for any potential increase to assistance requests.
13th June 2023
Southampton Airport attend the UK Civil Aviation Authority consultation forum on the performance framework for Airline Accessibility.
08 June 2023
Open Sight Eastleigh Charity members welcomed on site to deliver bespoke training to frontline operational and strategic management staff around sight impairment. The training included both theoretically knowledge bases, practical exercises including the use of simulation tools and specific mentoring on sighted guiding training. Southampton Airport wish to extend thanks for such a great session.
18 May 2023
AOA Safety Week and to create awareness of PRM related charities Southampton Airport welcomes Open Sight (Eastleigh) and Guide Dogs to our Airport. This include fund raising to support the causes and informational stands were set up with interactive training aids for passengers and staff to visit to gain an understanding of what each charity undertakes and how they support their users.
28 April 2023
Accessibility Forum meeting held with Local Bourgh Council, Airport team, OCS service providers and charity members from Open Sight Eastleigh and Parability Southampton. Review of the previous six months performance and charity visit/audits and changes made following recommendations
25 March 2023
Our Airport team welcome a private trainer for service dogs to help his latest trainee dog Pincoya with familiarising around the security screening areas.
24 March 2023
Southampton Airport supports Guide Dog familiarisation visit before the service animals first flight next week with its service user. full familiarisation/training for both were provided through the entire passenger process from arrival at the Terminal, security screening and on-board aircraft.
17 March 2023
Southampton Airport staff welcome Polygon School a local special educational needs school. Around 10 pupils and accompanying teachers were welcomed as part of an Airport familiarisation visit before the school fly off from another airport later this year. This focused on the airport environment and allowed pupils to experience in a quieter setting the Airport security areas and process that will be followed help support future travels.
16 March 2023
Meeting held with Associated British Ports to discuss what changes Southampton Airport has made towards assistance provisions, training of staff, pre passenger information and to share best practice between both operations. Support and discussions will be held regularly going forward.
06 February 2023
Southampton Airport Duty Manager who is now supporting the PRM provision visits Glasgow Airport for two days. The visit was to give a good understanding of PRM legislation, the processes and IT solutions that Glasgow use, to ensure that they provide an excellent service to their customers. The aim was to share best practice of both operations and ensure a consistent approach and level of service is delivered across both airports.
19 January 2023
Charity Visit - Open Sight Eastleigh visits Southampton Airport and met with our Terminal Manager and assistance provider OCS. They are taken on a tour of the airport through the full passenger journey to help find ways in which we can improve our current facilities for passenger with sight impairments and also assistance animals. This visit will form part of our Accessibility Forum presentation in April 2023.
24 November 2022
Met with a local representative of Open Sight Eastleigh at the charities building in Eastleigh. There we learned about the charities work in the community its user and training courses that can be provided. They were invited to join the SOU PRM forum which is chaired by Eastleigh Borough Council. They will now make up one of the core members of this forum. Open Site will be attending Southampton Airport in the near future to help us review and improve our facilities for passenger with sight impairments.
9 November 2022
Held virtual meeting with Parability a local disability charity. We discussed the services currently offered on site at SOU and key challenges throughout the summer season. Parability were invited to join the SOU PRM forum which is chaired by Eastleigh Borough Council. Parability will be invited to Southampton Airport to carry out an audit of our current facilities on site.
23 February 2022
Visit by CAA for a PRM review and introduction of new inspectors for PRM services and to help share best practices across the UK networks. To date, our PRM service provision has been maintained and our CAA ECAC and other performance KPIs have remained on target throughout.
11 April 2022
Winchester Area Access For All (WAAFA) charity is hosted on site by our Terminal Manager and OCS Station Manager who provide the Special assistance services on site. Full Audit of Southampton Airport looking specifically at accessibility of the entire passenger journey from car park to point of departure. All areas of the Terminal and journey looking at wayfinding, accessibility, accessible toilets, seating provision, help points etc.
Initial draft feedback has been received and the final document out output actions will be tracked by the SOU PRM forum. (Update on the 11/05/22 all recommended action now completed)
30 May 2022
Meeting held virtually with the CAA for a PRM operational review and we were able to gain a valuable insight into the current ongoing difficulties across UK airports with rapidly increasing passenger numbers. Southampton Airport had carried out multiple deep-dives throughout the winter season and ensured correct staffing levels were in place to avoid the disruption seen across the media during summer.
10 June 2022
OCS assistance team see Guide dog trainers on site helping train both future generation of guide dogs but also familiarisation with currently operational dogs with the airport surroundings. Terminal Manager is approached and on-going partnership to assist with training is established.
10 August 2022
First guide dog training exercise is carried out by OCS and our Airside Operations team to ensure full familiarisation/training for the users and animals can be provided through the entire passenger process from arrival at the Terminal, security screening and on-board aircrafts.
07 October 2022
The second visit for Guide Dog training users arranged and carried out with great success.
21 October 2022
Accessibility Forum meeting held with Local Bourgh Council, Airport team, OCS service providers and charity updates. Checking that all was well over the summer months and reviewing service users feedback.