In about three months, low-cost carrier AirAsia would be finally able to serve passengers with limited mobility, particularly those who are wheelchair bound.

AirAsia chief executive officer Tony Fernandez said the company would be investing RM6 million to make the move possible.

The money would be spent on procuring two "ambulifts", special wheelchairs for the cabin aisles and training cabin crews to handle passengers with mobility restrictions.

Fernandez's announcement follows a Transport Ministry directive on June 17 to make their services disabled friendly.

The matter was first highlighted on June 15 by a coalition of 18 disabled groups, Barrier-free Environment and Access to Transport (Beat), during a demonstration against AirAsia's policy to turn away certain type of passengers.

"Certain things couldn't be done (such as ferrying totally immobile passengers). But there were certain things that I thought couldn't be done, after I sat down with the guys (from Beat), we found ways to do it," said Fernandez, who met Beat representatives at their office in Petaling Jaya on July 20.

During the joint press conference with Beat today at the Low-Cost Carrier Terminal in Sepang, Fernandez also announced that AirAsia would be cooperating with Beat to recruit members of the disabled community to man the company's call centres and provide training for their cabin crew.

"We are confident in hiring disabled staff. This will open up a lot of companies (to the same idea)," he added.

Laws needed

Previously, AirAsia was able to carry wheelchair bound passengers when it was operating at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

But facilities allowing barrier free access to board the plane were absent at the Low-Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) which served as AirAsia's base since last March.

Despite the milestone victory for the disabled community, Beat coordinator Christine Lee said much needed to be done to provide the disabled community equitable access to public transportation.

She said inability to access public transport should not be viewed as a welfare problem but a denial of a disabled person's rights.

"Disabled persons need to be given equal opportunity to move away from charity recipients to consumers with the same rights as others," said Lee.

She called on the government to pass an act of Parliament which would safeguard the rights of disabled persons.