People with disabilities will find Liverpool one of the better airports to use when travelling by air, with the completion of a £4million refurbishment & upgrade of the departure lounge.

Liverpool John Lennon Airport (LJLA) – already rated as good under the latest Civil Aviation Authority Accessibility Report- now includes a Changing Places assisted accessible toilet.

The new room was officially opened by leading campaigner Tony Clough Mbe, with Liverpool John Lennon Airport Director of Operations Colin Swaine,

Added airside by the existing wheelchair-accessible male and female toilets, the Changing Places gives more space, to accommodate a wheelchair user and up to two carers, a ceiling track hoist, mobile changing bench and height adjustable washbasin- all supplied by Closomat, Britain’s leading provider of specialist accessible toilet solutions. The facility is electronically accessed, with a call point and camera.

Colin Swaine explained,

Liverpool is one of the UK’s fastest growing airports; we now handle 4.8million passengers a year, and appreciate that many of them require extra facilities beyond the ‘norm’.
 
We have hoped to open a Changing Places for several years, in response to feedback from airport users, disability groups and campaigners. The refurbishment of the departure lounge to improve the customer experience gave us a good opportunity to deliver something that has been on our ‘wish list’ for some time, and which integrates well into our reputation as the easier and friendlier airport. It will also, we hope, have a positive contribution towards our customer satisfaction: the latest survey shows us as one of the best in terms of overall customer satisfaction.

* Potential users of a wheelchair-accessible toilet with space, bench and hoist eg Changing Places include:

  • 1.5m wheelchair users
  • 6.5 million people who have either bladder or bowel incontinence
  • 1.5million people with a learning disability
  • 1.2million people living with stroke
  • 62,000 amputees
  • 30,000 people with cerebral palsy
  • 13,000 people with acquired brain injuries
  • 8,500 people with multiple sclerosis
  • 5,000 people with motor neurone disease
  • 8,000 people with spina bifida
  • 120,000 people with a stoma
  • 100,000 people with muscular dystrophies
  • 3.8million adults morbidly obese
  • 0.8million disabled children
  • 8.7million people with osteoarthritis
  • 400,000 people with rheumatoid arthritis