14 CFR Part 382 Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in Air Travel (Air Carrier Access Act) (with amendments issued through May 2016)
Subpart E—Accessibility of Aircraft
(a) As a carrier, you must ensure that aircraft with 30 or more passenger seats on which passenger aisle seats have armrests are equipped with movable aisle armrests on at least one-half of the aisle seats in rows in which passengers with mobility impairments are permitted to sit under FAA or applicable foreign government safety rules.
(b) You are not required to provide movable armrests on aisle seats of rows which a passenger with a mobility impairment is precluded from using by an FAA safety rule.
(c) You must ensure that these movable aisle armrests are provided proportionately in all classes of service in the cabin. For example, if 80 percent of the aisle seats in which passengers with mobility impairments may sit are in coach, and 20 percent are in first class, then 80 percent of the movable aisle armrests must be in coach, with 20 percent in first class.
(d) For aircraft equipped with movable aisle armrests, you must configure cabins, or establish administrative systems, to ensure that passengers with mobility impairments or other passengers with a disability can readily identify and obtain seating in rows with movable aisle armrests. You must provide this information by specific seat and row number.
(e) You are not required to retrofit cabin interiors of existing aircraft to comply with the requirements of this section. However, if you replace any of an aircraft's aisle seats with newly manufactured seats, the new seats must include movable aisle armrests as required by this section. However, an aircraft is never required to have movable aisle armrests on more than one half of the aisle seats.
(f) As a foreign carrier, you must comply with the requirements of paragraphs (a) through (d) of this section with respect to new aircraft you operate that were initially ordered after May 13, 2009 or which are delivered after May 13, 2010. As a U.S. carrier, the requirements of paragraphs (a), (b), (d), and (e) of this section applies to you with respect to new aircraft you operate that were initially ordered after April 5, 1990, or which are delivered after April 5, 1992. As a U.S. carrier, paragraph (c) of this section applies to you with respect to new aircraft you operate that were initially ordered after May 13, 2009 or which were delivered after May 13, 2010.
(g) As a foreign carrier, you must comply with the requirements of paragraph (e) of this section with respect to seats ordered after May 13, 2009.
(a) As a carrier, you must ensure that aircraft with more than one aisle in which lavatories are provided shall include at least one accessible lavatory.
(1) The accessible lavatory must permit a qualified individual with a disability to enter, maneuver within as necessary to use all lavatory facilities, and leave, by means of the aircraft's on-board wheelchair.
(2) The accessible lavatory must afford privacy to persons using the on-board wheelchair equivalent to that afforded ambulatory users.
(3) The lavatory shall provide door locks, accessible call buttons, grab bars, faucets and other controls, and dispensers usable by qualified individuals with a disability, including wheelchair users and persons with manual impairments.
(b) With respect to aircraft with only one aisle in which lavatories are provided, you may, but are not required to, provide an accessible lavatory.
(c) You are not required to retrofit cabin interiors of existing aircraft to comply with the requirements of this section. However, if you replace a lavatory on an aircraft with more than one aisle, you must replace it with an accessible lavatory.
(d) As a foreign carrier, you must comply with the requirements of paragraph (a) of this section with respect to new aircraft you operate that were initially ordered after May 13, 2009 or which are delivered after May 13, 2010. As a U.S. carrier, this requirement applies to you with respect to new aircraft you operate that were initially ordered after April 5, 1990, or which were delivered after April 5, 1992.
(e) As a foreign carrier, you must comply with the requirements of paragraph (c) of this section beginning May 13, 2009. As a U.S. carrier, these requirements apply to you with respect to new aircraft you operate that were initially ordered after April 5, 1990, or which were delivered after April 5, 1992.
(a) As a carrier, you must equip aircraft that have more than 60 passenger seats, and that have an accessible lavatory (whether or not having such a lavatory is required by §382.63 of this Part) with an on-board wheelchair. The Aerospatiale/Aeritalia ATR-72 and the British Aerospace Advanced Turboprop (ATP), in configurations having between 60 and 70 passenger seats, are exempt from this requirement.
(b) If a passenger asks you to provide an on-board wheelchair on a particular flight, you must provide it if the aircraft being used for the flight has more than 60 passenger seats, even if the aircraft does not have an accessible lavatory.
(1) The basis of the passenger's request must be that he or she can use an inaccessible lavatory but cannot reach it from a seat without using an on-board wheelchair.
(2) You may require the passenger to provide the advance notice specified in §382.27 to receive this service.
(c) You must ensure that on-board wheelchairs meet the following standards:
(1) On-board wheelchairs must include footrests, armrests which are movable or removable, adequate occupant restraint systems, a backrest height that permits assistance to passengers in transferring, structurally sound handles for maneuvering the occupied chair, and wheel locks or another adequate means to prevent chair movement during transfer or turbulence.
(2) The chair must be designed to be compatible with the maneuvering space, aisle width, and seat height of the aircraft on which it is to be used, and to be easily pushed, pulled, and turned in the cabin environment by carrier personnel.
(d) As a foreign carrier, you must meet this requirement as of May 13, 2010. As a U.S. carrier, you must meet this requirement by May 13, 2009.
§382.67 What is the requirement for priority space in the cabin to store passengers' wheelchairs?
[78 FR 67923, Nov. 12, 2013]
(a) As a carrier, you must ensure that there is priority space (i.e., a closet, or a row of seats where a wheelchair may be strapped using a strap kit that complies with applicable Federal Aviation Administration or applicable foreign government regulations on the stowage of cargo in the cabin compartment) in the cabin of sufficient size to stow at least one typical adult-sized folding, collapsible, or break-down manual passenger wheelchair, the dimensions of which are 13 inches by 36 inches by 42 inches or less without having to remove the wheels or otherwise disassemble it. This section applies to any aircraft with 100 or more passenger seats and this space must be other than the overhead compartments and under-seat spaces routinely used for passengers' carry-on items.
(b) If you are a carrier that uses the seat-strapping method to stow a manual passenger wheelchair, you must ensure that there is priority space for at least two such wheelchairs, if stowing the second passenger wheelchair would not displace passengers.
(c) If you are a carrier that uses a closet as the priority space to stow a manual passenger wheelchair, you must install a sign or placard prominently on the closet indicating that such wheelchairs and other assistive devices are to be stowed in this area with priority over other items brought onto the aircraft by other passengers or crew, including crew luggage, as set forth in §382.123.
(d) If passengers holding confirmed reservations are not able to travel on a flight because their seats are being used to stow a passenger's wheelchair as required by paragraph (a) of this section, carriers must compensate those passengers in an amount to be calculated as provided for in instances of involuntary denied boarding under 14 CFR part 250, where part 250 applies.
(e) As a carrier, you must never request or suggest that a passenger not stow his or her wheelchair in the cabin to accommodate other passengers (e.g., informing a passenger that stowing his or her wheelchair in the cabin will require other passengers to be removed from the flight), or for any other non-safety related reason (e.g., that it is easier for the carrier if the wheelchair is stowed in the cargo compartment).
(f) As a carrier, you must offer pre-boarding to a passenger stowing his or her wheelchair in the cabin.
(g) As a foreign carrier, you must meet the requirement of this section for new aircraft ordered after May 13, 2009, or delivered after May 13, 2010. As a U.S. carrier, this section applies to you with respect to new aircraft you operate that were ordered after April 5, 1990, or which were delivered after April 5, 1992.
(a) As a carrier, you must ensure that all new videos, DVDs, and other audio-visual displays played on aircraft for safety purposes, and all such new audio-visual displays played on aircraft for informational purposes that were created under your control, are high-contrast captioned. The captioning must be in the predominant language or languages in which you communicate with passengers on the flight.
(b) The requirements of paragraph (a) of this section go into effect with respect to audio-visual displays used for safety purposes on November 10, 2009.
(c) Between May 13, 2009 and November 9, 2009, U.S. carriers must ensure that all videos, DVDs, and other audio-visual displays played on aircraft for safety purposes have open captioning or an inset for a sign language interpreter, unless such captioning or inset either would interfere with the video presentation so as to render it ineffective or would not be large enough to be readable, in which case these carriers must use an equivalent non-video alternative for transmitting the briefing to passengers with hearing impairments.
(d) The requirements of paragraph (a) of this section go into effect with respect to informational displays on January 8, 2010.
§382.71 What other aircraft accessibility requirements apply to carriers?
[Doc. No. DOT-OST-2004-19482, 73 FR 27665, May 13, 2008, as amended at 74 FR 11471, Mar. 18, 2009]
(a) As a carrier, you must maintain all aircraft accessibility features in proper working order.
(b) You must ensure that any replacement or refurbishing of the aircraft cabin or its elements does not reduce the accessibility of that element to a level below that specified for new aircraft in this part.
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