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Travelers with disabilities often face challenges—from arriving at the airport to boarding a flight. These barriers can deter future travel. The San Antonio International Airport has plans for its forthcoming Terminal C to be designed barrier-free for disabled travelers.
In order to ensure designs for the new Terminal C meet the expectations of disabled travelers, the San Antonio International Airport invited focus groups from disability organizations for an eight-month discussion period on how to design a barrier-free terminal.
Tim O’Krongley, the airport’s deputy aviation director for Planning, Infrastructure and Development, calls the terminal project “bedside to planeside.”
“We wanted to hear from the community and really incorporate what the travelers' needs were,” said O’Krongley. “What did we need to do as an airport, and then, ultimately, as an industry, and hopefully as an industry worldwide, to be a leader in making an airport barrier free?”
O’Krongley says accessibility starts before a passenger arrives at the airport.
“Is our website accessible? Is it helpful? Does it tell people what they need to know all the way through?” he asked.
This is where the focus group came into play. He says the focus group suggested 166 accessible designs to implement in the new Terminal C, starting with a curbless, or zero-transition curbfront, for wheelchair users.
“It won't be your typical six-inch curb. It will be flat from the street into the walkways, into the building,” said O’Krongley. “But that was just one issue. And then we talked about ticket counter security (and) restrooms.”
O’Krongley says the accessibility focus group emphasized restroom accessibility.
“What's the right placement for hooks?” O’Krongley asked. “What's the right placement for doors? Or where do you put the accessible stall?”
The focus group suggested signage in braille be added to bathroom stalls so the visually impaired can know when one is occupied.
Many wheelchair users now have power wheelchairs. The pre-board wait can take up to an hour and this can cause the battery to drain. O’Krongley said his focus team suggested an idea they learned from Miami International Airport.
“Miami International Airport was the first to put in specific wheelchair charging stations in the terminal, and so we have those designed in.”
The discussion of giving space to wheelchair users grew from there.
“And then it was even one step further when we were talking to our furniture manufacturer,” said O’Krongley. "We said, we understand that you have accessibility seating, but at the end of seating, for example, what about putting a wheelchair charging station at the end of the regular row seating, or something like that? We never thought about that. So one of the designers is looking at that concept right now to see if that's feasible.”
O’Krongley said after Terminal C is finished, a renovation program will be started for Terminals A and B. O’Krongley added there are also plans to design multisensory rooms to the airport’s existing terminals.
The airport’s new Terminal C is expected to open in 2028.
