All Wheels Up, Inc.
Financial Incentives for Wheelchair Accessible Airplanes
This student team created a budget impact model that shows that a wheelchair spot on a plane should not be perceived as an expense and loss of revenue due to one less seat in the cabin, but instead could be a cost savings. To accomplish this the team explored a number of factors including tarmac turn-time savings, loss of revenue for the 80% of wheelchair users not traveling (and their families), cost to replace or repair damaged wheelchairs, legal fees associated with current airline wheelchair practices, negative viral posts/media related to wheelchair damage or mistreatment of people with reduced mobility, and more.
Faculty Adviser
Patty Buchanan,
Assistant Teaching Professsor,
Industrial & Systems Engineering
Students
Chase Mathews
Dane Siegelman
Kaya Bramble
Pauline Ong