This year, 63-year-old Taiwanese singer Zheng Zhihua, who relies on a wheelchair, accused Shenzhen Airport of being inhumane toward the disabled, coldly watching him 'crawl' onto the plane. The airport has responded that there is a gap between their services and expectations, and they will make immediate improvements to strive to provide jet bridge boarding for flights with wheelchair passengers.
In response to Zheng Zhihua’s complaint posted on Weibo on Saturday (October 25), the official Shenzhen Airport Weibo released a statement the same day, saying that they had worked with the airline to quickly verify the on-site support situation.
The notice stated that Zheng Zhihua took Shenzhen Airlines flight ZH9073 from Shenzhen to Taipei on Saturday afternoon. Due to full parking stands upon the arrival of preceding flights, Shenzhen Airport arranged for this flight to park at a remote stand.
To facilitate boarding for wheelchair passengers, the airport arranged a boarding vehicle. However, during passenger boarding and cargo loading, the plane moves up and down. To prevent ground support equipment from scraping the aircraft, the boarding vehicle must maintain a 20-centimeter height difference from the cabin door, which caused inconvenience for wheelchair passengers to enter the cabin.
Zheng Zhihua ultimately boarded the plane via the boarding vehicle with the help of one ground staff from the airline and one crew member.
The airport stated that, in response to the shortcomings of this boarding support, and working together with the airline, immediate rectifications have been introduced. Starting from Saturday evening, flights with wheelchair passengers will, whenever possible, be assigned jet bridge boarding.
For flights genuinely unable to use a jet bridge, the number of support personnel for wheelchair passengers will be increased from one to two; and a newly developed and tested boarding connection device with an added slope will be piloted to resolve the inconvenience caused by the height difference. The airport apologized again and acknowledged that their service still lags behind passenger expectations, promising to continuously improve and optimize.
In his response on Weibo early Sunday (26th), Zheng Zhihua said he had received the airport’s apology and would not pursue the matter further. He believes the incident was the result of one particular lift vehicle driver’s poor conduct, and not a problem with the whole airport.
"I just hope that through this incident, Shenzhen Airport can optimize their services and assistance for people with disabilities."
In response to Zheng Zhihua’s complaint posted on Weibo on Saturday (October 25), the official Shenzhen Airport Weibo released a statement the same day, saying that they had worked with the airline to quickly verify the on-site support situation.
The notice stated that Zheng Zhihua took Shenzhen Airlines flight ZH9073 from Shenzhen to Taipei on Saturday afternoon. Due to full parking stands upon the arrival of preceding flights, Shenzhen Airport arranged for this flight to park at a remote stand.
To facilitate boarding for wheelchair passengers, the airport arranged a boarding vehicle. However, during passenger boarding and cargo loading, the plane moves up and down. To prevent ground support equipment from scraping the aircraft, the boarding vehicle must maintain a 20-centimeter height difference from the cabin door, which caused inconvenience for wheelchair passengers to enter the cabin.
Zheng Zhihua ultimately boarded the plane via the boarding vehicle with the help of one ground staff from the airline and one crew member.
The airport stated that, in response to the shortcomings of this boarding support, and working together with the airline, immediate rectifications have been introduced. Starting from Saturday evening, flights with wheelchair passengers will, whenever possible, be assigned jet bridge boarding.
For flights genuinely unable to use a jet bridge, the number of support personnel for wheelchair passengers will be increased from one to two; and a newly developed and tested boarding connection device with an added slope will be piloted to resolve the inconvenience caused by the height difference. The airport apologized again and acknowledged that their service still lags behind passenger expectations, promising to continuously improve and optimize.
In his response on Weibo early Sunday (26th), Zheng Zhihua said he had received the airport’s apology and would not pursue the matter further. He believes the incident was the result of one particular lift vehicle driver’s poor conduct, and not a problem with the whole airport.
"I just hope that through this incident, Shenzhen Airport can optimize their services and assistance for people with disabilities."