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Assessing Aviation Accessibility at AIX 2025

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Accessibility remains a hot topic of conversation in the aviation world. At this year’s Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg manufacturers showed off their latest innovations while hoping to secure airline commitments for the offerings.

And, as in prior years, it was challenging to sort real progress from hype.



PriestmanGoode’s Jo Rowan kicked off the week with an excellent presentation about why designing for accessibility benefits everyone traveling. That led to a panel discussion I moderated about just how well the industry is delivering on this effort. With a strong focus on physical factors, the news from that session was mixed at best.

WheelchairTravel.org‘s John Morris was not shy in his assessment that accessibility in the market regressed in recent years, especially in the premium cabins. Seats with increased privacy are, as a general rule, harder for transfers to and from a wheelchair, even if compliant with regulations.

Some progress is being made on that front. Cathay Pacific and JPA Design were recognized as a 2025 Crystal Cabin Awards finalist for their solution now flying on the carrier’s newest 777 configuration.

Rendering of the sliding privacy wall that facilitates a wheelchair transfer to the mini-suite.
The sliding privacy wall facilitates a wheelchair transfer to the mini-suite, but it is still a limited experience for passengers.

Similar designs are flying on other airlines as well. But they are still a significant challenge for the passenger and crew. Multiple staff are needed to move a passenger from the seat to an aisle chair to their personal wheelchair. And in many cases the full suite of amenities are not accessible even when in the seat.

The regression also comes in the form of a continued shift away from physical buttons. Lufthansa Technik’s latest version secured a spot as a 2025 CCA finalist. Stelia Aerospace similarly features a version in its newest Rendez-Vous business class seat, unveiled at AIX 2025.

Control buttons for the seat, semi-hidden in the wood grain and terrible to use.
Stelia’s new RENDEZ-VOUS seat includes controls embedded in the wood trim. They were hard to spot even without any visual or tactile impairments.

As with many such changes, it turns out that making it more accessible would deliver an improvement in usability for all passengers, even as designers continue to move the opposite direction.

The panel further discussed other facets of the accessibility experience. Collins Aerospace’s Shawn Raybell shared updates on his company’s work for a wheelchair seating arrangement on board. The updated version of “Prime” includes a more fully developed cabin monument for the galley area.

The monument associated with Prime can quickly convert to a galley service area if it is unused by a passenger
The monument associated with Prime can quickly convert to a galley service area if it is unused by a passenger

Raybell also shared some optimism on the OpEx side of the ledger for airlines that deploy such solutions. They do not lose any seats in the cabin and they can save significantly on labor costs when carrying a wheelchair passenger. As noted above, a typical transfer from the chair to the airline seat requires three employees, including flight attendants. Loading the chair into the cargo hold requires four. The Prime solution requires just one member of the ground staff for the entire process.

That said, it is likely still a couple years away from flying. Collins did note it is “in very robust discussions with two different carriers to find a solution,” including work with regulators to ensure it will be deployable when the time comes.

Wheelchair next to the metal frame of a triple set of seats.
The latest version of Delta Flight Products’ Air4All seat is much closer to certification, but still a work in progress. There’s also a version for all-economy cabins.

Delta Flight Products showed an updated iteration of the Air4All solution at the show. This included a version built in a certifiable configuration and materials, not just a mockup. It also now has an option that can work if the front row is a three-across economy setup rather than two premium seats. Much like Prime, however, Air4All is working through certification, a process that is slower than many hoped it would be.

Once those seats are certified and flying, passengers will still have a less-than-normal experience on board. Accessible lavatories are not yet in all single-aisle planes. Where they do exist they are at the rear, where sufficient space exists. Alas, the wheelchairs cannot get down the aisle to make that feasible. No one had a good answer in our conversation on how that can be resolved.

And there’s another, bigger problem. Most of the panelists expressed optimism about the likelihood of airlines adopting these solutions. And from a marketing perspective there have been some positive comments made. At the same time, the industry continues to fight any and every mandate requiring accessible offerings on board. That makes it mighty hard to believe the marketing side of the story.

The Digital Side

A second panel focused more on digital accessibility options. The demands in this arena are very different, but no less imposing. And with a billion potential travelers impacted, the stakes are equally high.

Safran Passenger Innovations announced its accessibility UI/UX for entertainment systems at last year’s AIX. This year the company is putting the finishing touches on that product, with two confirmed airline customers expected to bring it online before the end of the year.

Giant, high-contrast buttons are a key part of SPI's accessible interface
Giant, high-contrast buttons are a key part of SPI’s accessible interface

The company also announced that it would make the design templates it developed free to world. It hopes this will see more companies deploy similar systems. Not only will more aircraft have an accessible IFE but it will potentially be consistent across the systems, further improving the passenger experience.

FlightPath3D is also in the game, with its Accessibility Map now deployed by Delta Air Lines. And it will fly on at least one of the accessibility-enabled SPI systems deploying this year.

The FlightPath3D accessible map mode strips out a lot of the extra bits in favor of high-contrast, core features
The FlightPath3D accessible map mode strips out a lot of the extra bits in favor of high-contrast, core features

Shifts in content can also facilitate the accessibility efforts. Daniel Jacobs of Stellar Group shared that his company is seeing increased demand for closed captioning, audio description, and additional dubbing languages on the selections loaded for airlines. For the captioning, in particular, the group agreed that it delivers a benefit to all passengers, not just those with hearing issues. 

Getting that additional meta-content can prove challenging, however, depending on the underlying original media. Jacobs shared that Stellar Group develops the additional bits directly in some cases where the studios do not provide them. In other cases, such as the new Anuvu/Apple TV deal, all of the languages and caption content is included thanks to the studio.

Real progress is being made, at least on the development side of the ledger. But scant little is flying yet, and the timelines are often exceptionally murky, owing to both certification and cost challenges.

It is good that the conversations are happening, but the industry will need to show real progress – and stem the regression – if it is to deliver on its promises and tap into the billion passenger market that would benefit from the improvements.

More news from Aircraft Interiors Expo 2025

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About Seth Miller

Seth Miller has over a decade of experience covering the airline industry. With a strong focus on passenger experience, Seth also has deep knowledge of inflight connectivity and loyalty programs. He is widely respected as an unbiased commentator on the aviation industry.

He is frequently consulted on innovations in passenger experience by airlines and technology providers.

You can connect with Seth via email, on Bluesky, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

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