Conference "Take-offs without barriers"
SACBO, the management company of Milan Bergamo airport, organized the conference entitled "Take-offs without Barriers" - The right to travel of Passengers with Reduced Mobility - twenty years after the issuance of EC Regulation no. 1107. The conference was held on Friday 10 April in the Sala Caravaggio of the Bergamo Fair and highlighted topics of great interest.
Assistance to passengers with reduced mobility (PRM), i.e. those with physical, sensory or intellectual disabilities, is regulated by European legislation that has been implemented for about twenty years now, which has made concrete the right of these people to use the plane as a means of transport. This is a fundamental principle, which does not only concern access to the flight, but also the possibility of living the airport experience with adequate support, from arrival at the airport to boarding and, for those who land, up to leaving the airport.
In this context, Milan Bergamo Airport is constantly committed to facilitating the transit of PRM passengers through a personalized assistance service and a dedicated structure such as the Sala Amica, recently expanded and subject to continuous improvements. The Sala Amica, which records a 99% satisfaction according to surveys conducted among assisted passengers, has a space of 200 square meters available to both travellers and operators.
BGY Airport can also count on elevators progressively implemented throughout the terminal, on eight elevators currently available and, in the future, call points are planned in the parking lots, through which passengers can request intervention to quickly receive support from an assistant. Furthermore, for over ten years, the Bergamo airport has also been carrying out the "Autism on the Road" (Autismo in Viaggio) project together with ENAC, dedicated to the assistance of passengers with autism spectrum disorders.
ENAC plays a central institutional role in coordinating and protecting the rights of passengers with disabilities or reduced mobility. Inclusion and accessibility are in fact central themes in the mission of the National Civil Aviation Authority, within an Italian airport system that welcomes about 240 million passengers and which presents itself as an advanced model also in terms of welcoming people with mobility difficulties or disabilities. Airlines also actively participate in the management of these services, and both ITA Airways and Ryanair provide for the booking of PRM assistance. In addition, the "Wheelchair Rent" service will soon be introduced at Rome Fiumicino airport, an initiative promoted by ENAC and inspired by an idea born in New York, which will allow PRM passengers to book a wheelchair as soon as they arrive at the airport.
The numbers confirm the importance of this sector. In Italy there are about one million PRM passengers assisted. At Milan Bergamo airport, which today handles 17 million passengers, in 2025 there were 94,048 PRM passengers assisted, almost one for each flight operated. These are passengers with different needs, classified according to the international IATA codes, including the blind, the deaf and people with mobility or walking problems who, the latter, represent about 90% of the total. The average waiting time to receive assistance at BGY is low: about 15 minutes on departure and about 12 minutes on arrival.
These issues were the focus of the conference opened by the president of SACBO Giovanni Sanga, continued with speeches by ENAC president Pierluigi Di Palma and the Minister for Disabilities Alessandra Locatelli. After the presentation of the data by Aldo Vignati, SACBO's Quality and User Relations Manager, the discussion, moderated by SACBO's press office manager Eugenio Sorrentino, then involved all the realities of the territory that revolve around Milan Bergamo Airport, an airport that manages the transit of about 100,000 PRM passengers every year. The dialogue with associations, administrators and social workers has reaffirmed an essential concept: the right to travel, recognized by the UN Convention, must be the same for everyone and requires a constant commitment to breaking down all barriers.
