In the event that a wheelchair frame and restraint system can be certified, the challenge will then be finding a suitable space in the cabin, as Geraldine Lundy, passenger accessibility manager at Virgin Atlantic, explains.

“Regulations mean that you can’t put someone in a wheelchair at the door. And if you envisage how narrow the aisles are on any aircraft existing at the moment, you wouldn’t be able to fit the wheelchair down the aisle, so you would need to work with the manufacturers,” says Lundy. “The really good thing is that people are now working on it. I think it will happen but there is still a way to go.”

Lundy believes it could take another 10-15 years before passengers will be able to bring their own wheelchairs into the cabin and remain seated in them during flight. She says that PriestmanGoode’s Air Access concept, or another similar concept, “would be the most achievable next step.”

Read the rest at Aviation Week.