plan for accessibility

Find all the information related to the 2023 - 2025 accessibility plan here. This option allows you to download the attached PDF so you can refer to it whenever you need.

1.1 Our Position on Accessibility

At Avianca, we understand that air travel is an essential service, especially in many of the countries and regions we serve. It should be open to all and inclusive of everyone. The language we use must be inclusive. We are all people first, and we all have different abilities. We need to learn from the entire community and value the different mobility, cognitive, and/or sensory abilities.

Avianca must remove barriers for all customers considering their different abilities and conditions. We recognize that we need to engage in constant dialogue with relevant parties, utilize universal design, and innovate to achieve this goal. We will make small mistakes in the short term; we will correct them and gain greater benefits in the long term. These mistakes are necessary for rapid adaptation. This is an open journey, with endless opportunities for improvement and adjustments.

Everyone can experience a disability at any time, whether permanently or for a short period. As the average life expectancy increases, more and more people will need better accessibility in all essential services, including aviation. It is a hidden and growing market that further facilitates doing the right thing, and accessibility is something that concerns all of us by making things easier and simpler for everyone through universal design. However, meeting the needs of a diverse community is not easy. We need to embrace the knowledge and perspectives of people with different needs. We want to invite people with disabilities to open up and share their conditions and challenges so that we can all learn and provide better assistance. We understand that there is power in diversity. We believe that creating a connection with the community can help us design better products and processes. This community engagement should encompass people with visual, auditory, mobility, and cognitive differences.

We will seek more inclusive processes and policies at every customer touchpoint: from imagining a flight, booking it, getting to the plane, to the post-flight experience, and every step in between. We need to unlock universal design and technological innovations. When we make the product and process easier for a person with a disability, it also improves the experience for everyone. We must comply with government regulations in every country we operate in. However, we will not be limited to government policies; we will strive to go faster and further. We will dedicate time and money to finding these solutions. We will partner with Non-Governmental Agencies, industry partners, entrepreneurs, and anyone who needs their voice heard or can contribute to the solution. We will link our accessibility program to our broader Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion program.

There is still a long way to go before the industry can serve this community, and we will work with our travel partners in the industry who provide applicable services that support or complement our air transport services, so they also work with us concerning our accessibility plans and objectives. We will change the world, one voice and one step at a time.

In a general sense, our framework consists of understanding our current policies, processes, and procedures. We want and need to create outreach to customers, the government, and the industry for diverse needs, and listen to and learn from their experiences. We will seek innovative ideas but primarily effective, high-impact actions that make a difference.

1.2 Contact Information and Feedback Process

If you wish to provide any feedback, request an alternative format of this accessibility plan, or an alternative format of the feedback process description, please use the following contact information:

• Person receiving feedback on behalf of Avianca: María Paula Pineda
• Email address you can write to: accessibility@avianca.com
• If you do not wish to send an email, you can use the following form.

Note: The purpose of this channel is to receive requests or comments related to this document or the feedback process. If you have an issue or a complaint, please use the channels provided for this purpose (Contact center and website) so we can provide you with an appropriate response.

In preparing this plan, we reviewed the accessibility principles set out in the Accessible Canada Act (ACA):

1. All people must be treated with dignity regardless of their disabilities.
2. All people must have the same opportunity to build the life they want and are capable of having, regardless of their disabilities.
3. All people must have barrier-free access to full and equal participation in society, regardless of their disabilities.
4. All people must have meaningful choices and be free to make their own decisions, with support if they desire, regardless of their disabilities.
5. Laws, policies, programs, services, and structures must take into account people's disabilities, the different ways people interact with their environment, and the multiple forms of marginalization and discrimination people face.
6. People with disabilities must be involved in the development and design of laws, policies, programs, services, and structures.

We are committed to identifying, eliminating, and preventing barriers in the technological systems we use to communicate with passengers. We will do this by working on the following actions:

• When selecting a special service during the booking process, there is a list of unclear options. We will make every reasonable effort to simplify the terms of special assistance, such as types of wheelchairs, and reduce variability in the interpretation and application of special service request (SSR) codes.
• We will work to improve and strengthen our communication with passengers with disabilities and will ask them to inform us in a timely manner about any special service requests before the flight begins, so we can better meet their needs.
• We will make every reasonable effort to ensure that all websites, mobile websites, and applications we own, operate, or control and that are available to the public comply with the Level AA conformity requirements set out in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and are compatible with adaptive technologies, so that passengers with different disabilities have a better experience using them.
• We will review and improve the information related to accessibility services available on our website and Help Center. We will make every reasonable effort to have clear information for everyone, so that passengers know what to expect when requesting special assistance (e.g., wheelchair assistance, traveling with a service dog, traveling as a passenger with hearing or visual impairment, etc.).
• We will make every reasonable effort to implement more appropriate communication tools throughout the customer journey to provide better service to people with hearing, visual, or physical difficulties.
• Considering the different types of disabilities and communications, we will make every reasonable effort to ensure that our Contact Center is compatible with adaptive technologies, and we will provide alternative means of communication for passengers with disabilities, such as email or third-party relay services or video relay services.
• We will make every reasonable effort to ensure that each self-service kiosk we own complies with accessibility requirements for passengers with disabilities.

We are committed to identifying, eliminating, and preventing barriers in how we address passengers with disabilities, in an informed, respectful, and accessible manner, through methods other than technology. We will do this by working on the following actions:

• By seeking feedback from some of our passengers with different types of disabilities, we learned that the experience is more accessible for them when they know in advance what will happen. We will make every reasonable effort to change the announcement made when an aircraft is parked in a remote position to inform passengers with disabilities how the disembarkation process will take place and to offer special assistance. We will review how to communicate this information visually and audibly, considering that the future of our fleet will be screenless.
• We will launch a training session for our customer-facing staff on the importance of process consistency, the necessary skills and attitudes, and the relevance of empathy when assisting passengers with disabilities.
• Passengers with visual disabilities described the barriers they face in accessing information such as seat numbers and letters. We will make every reasonable effort to make the boarding process more accessible by communicating seat numbers or providing additional information to help people with visual impairments locate their designated seats. When our staff identifies passengers with disabilities, appropriate assistance will be offered.
• One of the biggest issues raised by our External Accessibility Committee was the attitudinal barriers faced by passengers with disabilities during their journey. We will review and reinforce staff training, including general knowledge of different disabilities, raising awareness, fostering an attitude of "how can I help you?" by our staff instead of making assumptions about how to assist these passengers, and being empathetic to people with disabilities in various situations.
• We will make every reasonable effort to ensure that contractors and employees who handle mobility aids, provide physical assistance, and/or assist with special equipment or aids receive appropriate training on the skills and technical knowledge required to perform these functions. To do this, we will consider best practices, including the IATA Guidance on the Transport of Mobility Aids.
• Since El Dorado Airport in Bogotá, Colombia, recently joined the Sunflower Program related to hidden disabilities, our customer-facing staff will receive training to provide better service to those passengers wearing the hidden sunflower lanyard.
• Considering the regulations established by the Canadian authority, we will review and adjust, if necessary, our training programs to ensure they are aligned and up-to-date.
• Currently, onboard announcements are made in audio format. We will review how to include a visual format for these announcements, considering that the future of our fleet will be screenless.
• We will review and coordinate internally and with the relevant airport authorities how to make public announcements more accessible to passengers with disabilities, including both audio and visual formats.
• We will ensure that all our publicly available communications for passengers about our services or facilities are accessible by offering them in alternative formats such as braille, large print, audio format, or using simple and concise language.

We will make every effort to ensure that our staff involved in the procurement of goods and services related to goods, services, and/or facilities that may affect passengers with disabilities are trained to ensure that accessibility issues are considered in the relevant procurement processes. Whenever reasonably possible, we will strive to consult with people with disabilities before making final decisions regarding such procurements, in order to evaluate accessibility from their perspective with the goal of eliminating existing barriers and preventing the creation of new ones.

We are committed to identifying, eliminating, and preventing barriers in the way we design and deliver our programs and services to people with disabilities. To achieve this, we will work on the following actions:

• At times, wheelchair users face challenging situations when an aircraft is parked in a remote position. We will make every reasonable effort to review and improve the boarding/disembarking process for passengers in a remote position.
• We will evaluate and enhance training for employees who handle mobility aids, the process of loading/unloading them in the cargo hold, and those who provide physical assistance, ensuring that proper methods are used to secure, transport, and store mobility aids.
• In most airports, wheelchair service is provided by a third party, not by Avianca employees. We will review our suppliers' processes and training programs, and make recommendations to better ensure that passengers are treated with dignity and receive quality service.
• We will review current priority policies in airport processes (e.g., priority lines at counters) to include different types of disabilities, not just wheelchair users.
• Considering the different ways people interact with their environment, we have identified a barrier when passengers with disabilities approach the boarding podium. We will review the process to allow these passengers more time or the opportunity to approach the podium at the appropriate time, whether at the beginning or end of the boarding process.
• Not all types of disabilities require the same type of service or assistance. Our goal will be to identify these differences through received feedback and create specific journeys for different groups of disabilities.
• The experience at counters for wheelchair users or people of short stature can be improved. Although we cannot redesign counters in airports (as they are part of the airport infrastructure), we will review the process to improve passengers' experiences at the counters.
• According to IATA, 55% of wheelchair users say their biggest concern when flying is the fear that their wheelchair will be damaged or lost. We will make every reasonable effort to monitor issues and irregularities with wheelchairs.

For passengers with disabilities who need to change terminals at an airport when flying on an Avianca itinerary, we will coordinate with airport authorities to ensure, as reasonably as possible, that these passengers are transported between terminals as smoothly as possible, taking into account their different conditions.

We are committed to identifying, eliminating, and preventing barriers in the built environment under our control, and to considering universal design standards to ensure an accessible environment for all passengers. We will work on the following actions:

• We will review with OPAIN at Bogotá Airport the placement of signage and orientation throughout the terminal, reinforce priority attention, and consider audiovisual communication so that people with disabilities have a more accessible overall experience (both at the airport and with the airline). We will also review the placement of signage at our counters in Canada.
• For people with disabilities, written information such as seat numbering, safety signs, and onboard cards or menus are not always easy to read or identify. We will make every reasonable effort to improve our current way of communicating this information and include different languages within the community (such as Braille, sign language, etc.) for seat numbering and safety cards.

We confirm that the following Canadian regulations apply to us:

• Accessible Transportation for Persons with Disabilities Regulations (ATPDR)
• Accessible Transportation Planning and Reporting Regulations (ATPRR)
• Accessible Canada Regulations (ACR)

In developing this plan, in addition to considering feedback received from the community, best practices identified in the industry, and barriers identified throughout the customer journey, we included actions related to compliance as established by the aforementioned regulations.

Although we still have a long way to go, Avianca currently has policies and procedures in place to provide an accessible experience for passengers with disabilities. We comply with the regulations established by the United States Department of Transportation regarding accessible air travel.

Here’s what we are doing to meet and exceed accessibility requirements:

• To involve people with disabilities in the development and design of policies, programs, services, and structures, we established an External Accessibility Committee in September 2022 with representatives of different disabilities: visual, auditory, cognitive, and mobility.
• The training provided to employees who work at airports and interact with the public includes regulations from the different countries in which we operate, the customer journey, technical knowledge on SSR codes, avoiding discriminatory actions, identifying support persons and service dogs, and the skills required to provide physical assistance or handle mobility devices. Topics are updated annually and those involved in customer services receive periodic refresher training.
• Employees at the airports in Toronto, Bogotá, and San Salvador receive training on serving passengers with disabilities. This training is provided at the beginning of their respective positions and subsequently every 2 years.
• In February 2023, El Dorado Airport joined the global Sunflower program. Avianca joined this program to provide a better experience for people with hidden disabilities.
• We have a procedure for attending to passengers with special needs or requiring additional assistance, which provides clear guidelines for special services offered from the time of booking until the end of the journey. This procedure includes:
  • Requirements and conditions for transporting service dogs and emotional support animals.
  • Requirements and conditions for transporting different types of wheelchairs.
  • The alternative procedure approved by the Department of Transportation (DOT) for transporting mobility aids in the hold and not in the cabin.
  • Policies and guidelines for attending to passengers with disabilities.
  • Requirements and conditions for denying boarding to a passenger.
• During the second half of 2022, we established a team of 3 people led by our Director of Strategy and Planning and our Director of Sustainability. This team is fully committed to accessibility and aims to identify and prioritize the barriers faced by our customers, regardless of their abilities and conditions, and align other Avianca teams to eliminate these barriers and achieve more accessible and inclusive air transportation for all.

In preparing this accessibility plan, we included feedback received in September 2022 from passengers with disabilities who had flown with us. We invited 10 representatives of different types of disabilities to Avianca's facilities. Attendees included individuals with reduced mobility, wheelchair users, foundations working for the benefit of people with disabilities (Saldarriaga Concha and Best Buddies), visually impaired individuals, FENASCOL (National Federation of the Deaf of Colombia) representing the deaf community, and people who do not have a disability but have a family member who does. We held a hybrid session with some people attending in person and others virtually, considering the specific requirements of each participant to ensure equal participation, with key actors from various Avianca teams involved in the complete process.

During this session, we asked about their best and worst experiences with an airline, key information an airline should know about their specific disability to provide better service, and, based on the barriers they face, what aspects Avianca should focus on to offer a more accessible journey. We took the feedback and opinions received from both internal and external attendees and built our roadmap for the coming years.

1.1   Our position on accessibility

In avianca we understand that air travel is an essential service, particularly in several of the countries and regions we serve. It must be open to all, and it must include all. The language we use must be inclusive. We are all people first and we all have different abilities. We need to learn from the full community regardless of personal mobility, intellectual, or sensory differences.

Our objective is to identify, prioritize and break down boundaries faced by people with disabilities during their travel experience. We strive for alignment among internal teams and with our main allies, to have a more accessible and inclusive air transportation at every point of contact with the customer: from the moment they imagine an air travel, book it, get to the airport, until they get on the plane, the entire post-flight process, and every step in between. To achieve this goal, we use constant dialogue with relevant parties that can help us design products, policies, and processes from a different perspective. The sky belongs to everyone, and we seek to learn from all ways of flying. Although there are government regulations we must comply with in every country we operate, we will not be constrained by government policies but will strive to go faster and further. We understand the power in diversity.

According to the World Health Organization, 16% of the global population experience a significant disability today, and all people can easily become disabled at any moment as average life span increases and new conditions become more evident. It is a hidden and growing market that makes doing the right thing even more evident and urgent. It is the necessary course of action and the economically right decision. However, meeting the needs across a diverse community is not easy. We need to embrace the knowledge and insights of people with different needs. We want to invite people with disabilities to be open to share their conditions and challenges, so we can all learn and provide a better service. We want to make air travel more accessible for everyone, and we are dedicating time and money to find these solutions. We will look for innovative ideas, but mainly for effective, high impact actions that make the difference.

We want to work side by side with Non-Governmental Agencies, authorities, with entrepreneurs, with industry partners and with anyone that can add to the solution. We believe that the whole industry supply chain should share the cost and contribute to the solution without charging the final customer. There is still a long way to go until the industry gets to serve this community and we will work with our travel partners in the industry who provide applicable services that support or are complementary to our air transportation services, to also work with us in respect of our accessibility plans and goals. We will change the world one voice and one step at a time.

1.2   Contact information and feedback process

If you want to provide any feedback, or request an alternate format of the accessibility plan, this progress report, or the description of the feedback process, please use the following contact information:

• Person that will receive feedback on behalf of avianca: Maria Paula Pineda
• Email address to which you can write: accessibility@avianca.com
• If you do not want to write an email, you can use the form here.
• Mailing address in Canada: Lester B Pearson Intl Airport, Terminal 2 2^nd Floor Room GA2037 Toronto, ON L5P 1B2
• Telephone in Canada: 416 - 776 - 2663

Note: the purpose of these channels is to receive requests or comments related to this document, avianca’s accessibility plan or the feedback process. If you have an issue or complaint with one of our flights, please use the channels intended for this purpose (Contact Center, Web Page) so we can give you an adequate response.

If you request an alternate format of any of the documents, consider the following applicable times set in the regulation:

• Print: on the 15^th day after the day that the request is received.
• Large print: on the 15^th day after the day that the request is received.
• Braille: 45 days after the day that the request is received.

Audio format: 45 days after the day that the request is received.

We are committed to identify, remove, and prevent barriers in the technological systems we use to communicate with passengers.

Here is the progress made during the last year:

• One of our first and top priority efforts, was to understand how Special Service Request (SSR) codes were being used in the different touchpoints of the customer journey. Since SSRs are the primary source of data to identify and assist travelers with disabilities, we tested different scenarios and confirmed the successful transmission of this information between the different systems used throughout the travel experience.
• Framed in our efforts of making every website, mobile website and application that we own, operate or control and that is made available to the public, meet the requirements for a Level AA conformance according to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), we are working with a subject-matter-expert. In the process of redesigning our website and application, we are understanding and building a plan to meet the WCAG requirements and assure compatibility with adaptive technologies.
• In our efforts to improve the information pertaining to available accessibility services in our website and Help Center, we are working on having clearer information for everyone, especially regarding wait times and assistance provided. We added specific information in our Help Center for passengers with visual and hearing disabilities so they can better prepare and know what to expect when they request assistance.
• To select a special service in the booking process or to notify that a person needs additional assistance, we had a list of options that was confusing for passengers. We simplified the list, especially the options related with wheelchairs, and went from 8 to 6. Also, we changed to a simpler language, and reduced the variability in the interpretation and application of the special service request (SSR) codes.
• We addressed a concern where passengers were not being able complete certain steps in the travel journey apparently because of the special service request code associated to their booking. After validating all the steps and the rules associated, we reinforced to passengers with disabilities that informing that they have a visual or hearing disability does not prevent them to complete certain processes like checking in online or purchasing an upgrade.
• We understand the communication barriers that passengers with hearing disabilities encounter in the travel journey. In our efforts to implement technological tools to provide a better service to deaf people or those hard of hearing that use sign language, we partnered with the Colombian National Federation of the Deaf (FENASCOL) to execute a pilot in Bogota’s airport to offer virtual interpretation service.
• We are using all reasonable efforts to ensure that every self-service kiosk we own, meets the requirements of accessibility for passengers with disabilities. However, most of this equipment is owned by the airports, so we constantly work with them to guarantee their accessibility. So far, we have confirmed that all of them meet the requirements.
• Having in mind the different types of disabilities and forms of communication, our Contact Center team provides alternative means of communication for passengers with disabilities such as Voice, email and the Vianca Chat through the WhatsApp application.

We are committed to identify, remove, and prevent barriers on how we address passengers with disabilities, so it is in an informed, respectful, and accessible way, via other methods than using technology.

Here is the progress made during the last year:

• We had webinars for our personnel who interact with the public in the importance of process consistence, skills and attitudes required, and the relevance of empathy when serving passengers with disabilities. We had the opportunity to invite members of our External Accessibility Committee to share their stories and highlight the relevance of these topics. This committee was implemented since 2023 with representatives of different disabilities: visual, hearing, intellectual, psychosocial, neurodiversity and mobility.
• One of the biggest issues raised by our External Accessibility Committee was the attitudinal barriers passengers with disabilities face during their journey. To create awareness among airport agents and crew members, we built a booklet as a service guide for accessibility. Here, we included the do’s and don’ts when interacting with a person with any type of disability, promoting a how-can-I-help-you attitude from our personnel rather than making assumptions as to how passengers can be helped, and being empathetic with persons with disabilities in different situations.
• Considering the regulations set out by the Canadian authority, we are reviewing and adjusting if needed our training programs, so they are aligned and updated.
• Since the El Dorado Airport in Bogota, Colombia recently joined the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower Program, our personnel who interact with passengers is receiving training to identify and better serve these passengers who choose to wear the Sunflower lanyard. So far, more than 300 employees have received this training.
• We’ve been constantly meeting with our largest operational airport in Bogota to review and coordinate how to make public announcements more accessible for passengers with disabilities. This airport has made an important progress by improving the signage across the terminal, including pet relief areas, activating digital gate announcements (both in English and Spanish), and improving the signage for accessible facilities.
• Passengers with visual disabilities described the barriers they face to access information such as applicable lines and seat numbers. We are using all reasonable efforts to make more accessible the boarding process, adding visual disabilities to the current pre-boarding group and announcing improvements like braille numbering when applicable (depending on the aircraft assigned). When our personnel identify passengers with disabilities, we are reinforcing the process, so those passengers are offered applicable assistance.
• While asking for feedback from some of our passengers with different types of disabilities, we learned that the experience is more accessible for them when they know in advance what is going to happen. We adjusted the announcement made when an aircraft parks in a remote position to give passengers with disabilities detailed information on how the disembarkation process will be done. For example, that a staircase will be available and, depending on the airport, that buses will take them to the main terminal.
• Considering that the future of our fleet is screen-free and that on-board announcements are currently communicated in an audio format, we are adapting our communication methods, so flight attendants are more aware of deaf and hard-of-hearing passengers, and they proactively approach them when any announcement is made. To maximize the effectiveness of this approach, we require passenger’s cooperation. By informing us of their disability during the booking process or after, the "DEAF" code is automatically assigned, allowing flight attendants to readily identify their location and ensure clear communication throughout the flight.

Given the importance of the communication between the Contact Center and people with disabilities during any point of the journey, we've been providing constant training for our third-party agents to increase awareness and to reinforce processes to deliver the appropriate service to any passenger. In addition, we have conducted mystery calls and audits to ensure that the service meets the quality standards of the airline

We are using all reasonable efforts to ensure our personnel who are involved with applicable goods and services procurements relating to goods, services and/or facilities that may affect passengers with disabilities are trained to best ensure that accessibility issues are considered in the relevant procurement processes. Whenever reasonably possible, we are endeavoring to consult with persons with disabilities prior to making final decisions in respect of such procurements to enable us to evaluate accessibility from their perspectives with the goal of removing existing barriers and avoiding the creation of new barriers.

To achieve this goal, we have been focusing on generating awareness among all employees with short videos that explain different disabilities and how is the experience for this passengers when traveling, we created an internal site where employees can access to the most relevant information regarding the accessibility program, and we do regular talks with the different teams to reinforce the importance of this topic for avianca and the leadership team,

We are committed to identify, remove, and prevent barriers in the way we design and deliver our programs and services to persons with disabilities.

Here is the progress made during the last year:

• Not every type of disability requires the same type of service or assistance. Our objective is to identify those differences and define key moments for the different groups of disabilities. Aligned with the Customer Experience & Delivery team, and the feedback received from our passengers, we created a matrix with our 4 categories of disabilities and the 29 moments of truth of our customer journey. As a result, we obtained 76 pain points that we have been sharing with key teams to create awareness and identify and prioritize actions.
• As part of our commitment to create more awareness and collaboration among internal teams, we incorporated the number of passengers with Special Service Requests (SSR) BLND (blind and other visual disabilities) and DEAF (deaf and other hearing disabilities) into the Operational Planning dashboard. This readily available information will help teams to better prepare for and serve these passengers.
• We reviewed check-in processes at counters to include different types of disabilities, beyond wheelchair users. As a result, signage across all airports was improved. Previously, special assistance counters were limited to pregnant women, senior travelers, wheelchair users, and those traveling with pets. We've expanded the icons to include people with hearing and visual impairments, intellectual or psychosocial disabilities, and those with neurodiversity. Additionally, the accessibility logo was included indicating that we have reasonable accommodations in those counters for people with disabilities.
• The experience in the counters for wheelchair users or people of short height can be improved. Although we cannot re-design counters at airports (being part of the airports’ infrastructure), we are reviewing the process and how to address this pain point from a service perspective to improve passengers’ experience at the check in counters.
• Considering the different ways in which persons interact with their environments, we have identified a barrier when passengers with disabilities approach the podium for boarding. We are reviewing the process, so these passengers have more time, or the opportunity to approach the podium in the right moment, whether it is at the beginning or at the end of the boarding process. With the signage improvements, we are also working in the pre-boarding process so it is clearer that it also includes people with other disabilities, besides wheelchair users, that would benefit from this possibility.
• In our commitment to review and improve the experience for passengers when boarding/disembarking in a remote stand, we have made progress in 2 fronts:
  • While airport authorities typically assign parking positions, airlines can sometimes negotiate for better options. To create more awareness and alignment, we have incorporated the number of special service requests (SSRs of wheelchairs, blind, deaf, etc.) of each flight into their decision-making process. This adds weight to prioritizing flights with more SSRs when assigning gates versus remote stands.
  • We adjusted the on-board announcement to give passengers with disabilities detailed information on how the disembarkation process will be done, as mentioned in a previous section.
• We will evaluate and refine the training for employees who handle mobility aids, the process to load/unload them in the cargo compartment, and the ones who provide physical assistance, so the proper methods are used to secure, carry, and stow mobility aids. Currently, we are evaluating how to roll out best practices, such as IATA’s Guidance on the Transport of Mobility Aids, and how to do a better-quality control check to the assistance provided.
• In most airports, the wheelchair service is provided by a third party, not by avianca employees. We are reviewing with our providers their processes and training programs and making recommendations to them on how to better ensure that passengers are treated with dignity and receive a quality service.
• According to IATA, 55% of wheelchair users say the biggest single cause of concern when flying is the fear of their wheelchair being damaged or lost. We will use all reasonable efforts to monitor issues and irregularities with wheelchairs. Currently, we are evaluating how to implement a KPI that can help us meet this goal.
• In response to passengers’ feedback highlighting attitudinal barriers as a major challenge, we included accessibility and how to better serve passengers with disabilities in the service trainings our frontline employees receive. Two members of our External Accessibility Committee served as guest speakers, reinforcing the importance of service consistency, the best way to deliver services, and a “how can I help you?” attitude.
• With the objective to get more feedback and understand in detail the barriers faced by passengers with disabilities during their travel experience, the team in charge of the Contact Center developed an improvement in the current way they categorized questions and complaints handled by them. This improvement consists of adding a checkbox to indicate if the question/complaint was accessibility related, and then a report is sent to review each case, without reveling personal information of the passenger or the person that made the contact. In addition, agents are trained to maintain complete data of any case/call/contact when classifying it in the Customer Relationship Management (CRM).

For passengers with disabilities who are required to change terminals at an airport when such passengers are flying pursuant to one avianca itinerary, we are monitoring airports’ facilities to better ensure that those passengers are transported between terminals in as seamless a manner as reasonably possible, taking into consideration their different conditions and the airports’ infrastructure.

We are committed to identify, remove, and prevent barriers on the built environment under our control and to consider universal design standards to ensure an accessible setting for all passengers.

Here is the progress made during the last year:

• For people with disabilities, written information like seat numbering, security signs and cards or on-board menu in the airplanes, is not always easy to read or identify. We are using all reasonable efforts to improve our current way of communicating information, considering the different methods that exist. In this effort, we have made progress in 2 fronts:
  • We implemented new row markers and Braille numbering in our narrow-body aircrafts so both passengers with visual disabilities and those who read Braille can easily locate themselves on board. New row markers have more color contrast and the row number in all the 3 visible sides so people can easily locate from the front and the back of the aircraft, the row they are looking for.
  • Our on-board menu available for domestic and international flights on narrow-body aircrafts, is now at hand through avianca on air in the applicable flights. This improves information access for people who use their own devices and accessibility features.
• We reviewed with OPAIN, from Bogota’s airport, the placement of signage and wayfinding around the terminal, to reinforce priority attention and consider audio and visual communication so persons with disabilities have a more accessible experience. El Dorado airport in Bogota has put a lot of effort in this, modernizing the signage of all its areas to facilitate passenger traffic within the terminal, putting larger videowalls to provide better visibility of the flight schedule, implementing recorded announcements in boarding gates, and adding the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower logo in their signage.

We confirm that the following Canadian regulations apply to us:

• Accessible Transportation for Persons with Disabilities Regulations (ATPDR)
• Accessible Transportation Planning and Reporting Regulations (ATPRR)
• Accessible Canada Regulations (ACR)

In the construction of this progress report, in addition to considering the feedback received by the community, best practices identified in the industry and the barriers identified across the customer journey, we comply with and periodically review our compliance with regulations, as well as periodically review our tariffs, policies and procedures.

This is what we are doing to comply and exceed accessibility-related requirements:

• To involve persons with disabilities in the development and design of policies, programs, services, and structures, we work closely with our External Accessibility Committee. For the first year, we established a plan of 40 actions, setting a target of 25 to end the year with 27 completed actions framed in 5 tools: create awareness, train, improve and adjust processes, incorporate digital technology and adjust hardware.
• The training provided to employees who work at airports and interact with the public, includes regulations in the different countries we operate, the customer journey, technical knowledge on SSR codes, avoiding discriminatory actions, identification of support persons and service dogs, and the required skills to provide physical assistance or handle mobility aids. Topics are updated every year with relevant positions at airports and those involved in customer services take periodic refresher training.
• Employees at Toronto, Bogota and San Salvador airports receive training in respect of serving passengers with disabilities. Such training is provided upon commencement of their respective positions and thereafter every 2 years. In February 2023 El Dorado airport in Bogota, Colombia joined the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower global program. Avianca supports the airport by training its employees to identify the lanyard. So far, more than 300 airport agents have participated in the session.
• We have a procedure to serve passengers with disabilities or that require additional assistance, that provides clear guidelines for special services offered from the time of booking to the completion of the trip. This procedure includes:
  • Requirements and conditions to transport service dogs and emotional support animals.
  • Requirements and conditions to transport the different types of wheelchairs.
  • The alternate procedure approved by the Department Of Transportation to transport mobility aids in the cargo compartment and not in the cabin.
  • Policies and guidelines to serve passengers with disabilities.
  • Requirements and conditions in the case boarding is denied to a passenger.

We gather feedback through multiple channels that is constantly incorporated and validated against our general accessibility program. Here is how that feedback was taken into consideration:

• Feedback process: in response to the provisions stated above, we activated a specific e-mail address and questionnaire to receive feedback. As of the day this progress report was published, we received one response in our questionnaire related with contrast and keyboard accessibility of the web page. This issue is already being addressed by our teams as described in the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) section. Regarding the accessibility e-mail address, we received 5 mails of which 2 were publicity, 1 was a complaint not related to accessibility, 1 was a person interested in being part of the External Accessibility Committee and the last one was a passenger who identified as a person with a disability that encountered some inconsistencies before their trip. For the latter, we were able to act on time and assure a frictionless travel experience.
• External Accessibility Committee: we meet three times per year and among the topics discussed are informing the program’s progress, getting feedback from them on the actions and the plan, hear their best and worst experiences with an airline to learn from others, and on what aspects should avianca focus to make a more accessible customer journey. This is how we make sure we are always on the right track.
• Voice of the customer, complaints, social media: to ensure the Accessibility Strategy team receives prompt feedback from customers, a collaborative process was established with the Contact Center teams. When they encounter an accessibility-related case, it is routed to the accessibility strategy team. The situation in analyzed with the relevant internal areas to define appropriate actions. These actions are then reviewed against the general accessibility plan and, if necessary, new actions are added. Through social media we also receive positive feedback when we communicate our progress and most recent improvements.
• Accessibility extreme cases: although we are making progress with our plan, we are not exempt from something happening. When there is a situation with a person with a disability and safety got compromised, it gets media attention or a regulation was violated, the Accessibility Strategy team takes the case, calls a working table with the involved areas, an action plan is defined so it doesn’t happen again, and the case is shared in the Executive Operations Meeting so it creates awareness among the teams.

In preparation of the accessibility plan, we included the feedback received by passengers with disabilities that had flown with us. 10 representatives of the different categories of disabilities were invited to Avianca’s building, we had attendees with reduced mobility, wheelchair users, foundations that work for the benefit of people with disabilities (Saldarriaga Concha and Best Buddies), people with visual impairments, FENASCOL (Federación Nacional de Sordos de Colombia) representing the deaf-signing community, and people that do not have a disability but have a family member that does. We had a hybrid session with some people in-person and others virtually, having in mind the specific requirements of each one so they could access equal participation in the session, and with some key stakeholders from the different avianca teams involved in the end-to-end process.

In that session, we asked them about their best and worst experience with an airline, key information an airline should know about their specific impairment to provide a better service, and, based on the barriers faced by them, on what aspects should avianca focus to make a more accessible customer journey. The comments and feedback received from both internal and external attendees were the grounds for avianca’s accessibility roadmap for the following years.

Throughout the year we constantly consult and are in touch with our External Accessibility Committee and with the feedback received from passengers, as stated above. In preparation of this progress report, we consulted subject-matter experts, such as the people in the committee and our main allies like FENASCOL, INCI, Best Buddies and Fundación Saldarriaga Concha.