Elche (Alicante) (EFE).- The first sensory room specifically designed at an AENA airport to alleviate the wait for passengers with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) will be built before the end of the year at the Alicante-Elche facilities, with an investment of about 240,000 euros.
Measuring almost one hundred square metres, this pioneering lounge will be located on the landing floor, next to the Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández airport VIP, and will have all the comforts to improve the experience before the trip for hundreds of passengers with ASD, through for which security filters, crowds and a multitude of terminal signals cause stress that can sometimes become unbearable.
To do this, the room will have a low-stimulation area with light or tactile games for autistic children or those with Asperger’s, for example, and another quiet area (white room) more aimed at adults with this problem.
The space will have an area to prepare food, an adapted bathroom, a flight departure screen and a telephone to contact airport staff.
The goal is for it to be built before the end of 2023 to then equip it to put it into service at the end of March 2023, when the high season starts, the head of the AENA Service Planning section in Alicante, Belén explained to EFE. Gisbert Sánchez, together with the person in charge of the service for people with reduced mobility (PRM) of the Adelte concessionaire, Miguel Ángel López Morales.
Fifth airport in Spain
With 13.2 million travelers in 2022, the Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández airport is the fifth airport in Spain and the first in terms of the ratio of users with reduced mobility per passenger, with 167,000 travelers with special needs during the last year, according to data. provided to EFE by AENA.
This first sensory room will be free and has just been awarded to the company Cofely España SA for 239,381.30 euros, with a completion period of four months to fit out 97.2 square meters.
It will house tactile, light and audiovisual elements aimed at giving controlled stimuli and adapted to the sensory sensitivity of each person, which will facilitate adaptation to the tolerance threshold of the autistic user at the airport.
Video information
The Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández airport has also been the first in the AENA network to produce a video recorded on the premises itself, showing the journey that these users with special cognitive needs take from their arrival to boarding the plane.
Alicante-Elche has placed TEA pictograms at various points along the route which, designed by the Autism Spain Confederation, help to preview what is going to happen and can be studied prior to the trip by downloading from the AENA website to provide a more comfortable environment. and predictive.
Invisible Disability Badge
Another of the initiatives to help these users is the invisible disability badge, which can be requested through the AENA website and allows airport staff to immediately identify the people who wear it in order to facilitate and improve their experience.
This is a badge that has been in operation since April 20 at eleven airports: Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas, César Manrique-Lanzarote, Gran Canaria, Ibiza, Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat, Málaga-Costa del Sol, Palma de Mallorca, Seville, Tenerife South and Valencia, in addition to Alicante-Elche, which are the busiest, within the framework of the initiatives of the Passenger Experience Quality Plan to facilitate the stay of the different profiles of travelers who use the terminal , focusing on functional diversity. EFE