View all text of Subpart J [§ 382.141 - § 382.145]
§ 382.141 - What training are carriers required to provide for their personnel (i.e., employees and contractors)?
(a) As a carrier that operates aircraft with 19 or more passenger seats, you must ensure training, meeting the requirements of this paragraph, for all personnel who interact with the traveling public or who handle passengers' assistive devices, as appropriate to the duties of each employee or contractor.
(1) General. You must ensure training to proficiency concerning:
(i) The requirements of this part and other applicable Federal regulations affecting the provision of air travel to passengers with a disability;
(ii) Your procedures, consistent with this part, concerning the provision of air travel to passengers with a disability, including the proper and safe operation of any equipment used to accommodate passengers with a disability; and
(iii) Your procedures that safeguard the safety and dignity of passengers with disabilities when providing service required under this part.
(2) Communication. You must ensure employees and contractors who interact with the traveling public are trained with respect to awareness of different types of disabilities, including how to distinguish among the differing abilities of individuals with disabilities.
(i) You must ensure such employees and contractors are trained on appropriate ways to communicate and interact with passengers with disabilities, including persons with physical, sensory, speech, mental, intellectual, or emotional disabilities (e.g., communicating directly with the individual with a disability instead of to the travel companion/interpreter).
(ii) You must also ensure such employees and contractors are trained to recognize requests for effective communication accommodation from individuals who have disabilities impacting communication (e.g., hearing or vision impaired individuals, non-verbal individuals), and to use the most common methods for communicating with these individuals that are readily available, such as writing notes or taking care to enunciate clearly, for example. Training in sign language is not required. You must also train these employees to recognize requests for communication accommodations from deaf-blind passengers and to use established means of communicating with these passengers when they are available, such as passing out Braille cards if you have them, reading an information sheet that a passenger provides, or communicating with a passenger through an interpreter, for example.
(3) Physical assistance. You must ensure that employees and contractors who provide physical assistance to passengers with disabilities who use wheelchairs or scooters are trained in the matters listed in paragraphs (a)(1) and (2) of this section, and the following, as appropriate to the duties of each person:
(i) Hands-on training concerning safe and dignified physical assistance, including: transfers to and from personal or airport wheelchairs, aisle chairs, and aircraft seats; proper lifting techniques to safeguard passengers; how to troubleshoot common challenges in providing physical assistance; and proper use of equipment used to physically assist passengers with disabilities; and
(ii) Other training concerning the collecting and sharing of passenger information, such as Special Service Request (SSR) codes, needed to ensure safe, dignified, and prompt physical assistance, and effective communications with passengers with mobility disabilities, or their companion if direct communication with the individual with a disability is not possible.
(iii) As part of this training, the employees and contractors must be able to successfully demonstrate their knowledge on the matters listed in paragraphs (a)(3)(i) and (ii) of this section (e.g., competency assessments or certification exams).
(4) Handling of wheelchairs and scooters. You must ensure that employees and contractors who handle passengers' wheelchairs or scooters are trained in the matters listed in paragraphs (a)(1) and (2) of this section, and the following, as appropriate to the duties of each person:
(i) Hands-on training concerning common types of wheelchairs and scooters and their features, airport and airline equipment used to load and unload wheelchairs and scooters, and methods for safely moving and stowing wheelchairs, including lifting techniques, wheelchair disassembly, reconfiguration, and reassembly, and securement in the cargo compartment of the aircraft; and
(ii) Other training concerning the collecting and sharing of information regarding a passenger's wheelchair or scooter, including using any airline wheelchair handling form(s) that may exist, to ensure the safe and proper handling of such assistive devices, and effective communications with passengers with mobility disabilities, or their companion if direct communication with the individual with a disability is not possible.
(iii) As part of this training, the employees and contractors must be able to successfully demonstrate their knowledge on the matters listed in paragraphs (a)(4)(i) and (ii) of this section (e.g., competency assessments or certification exams).
(5) Consulting with disability rights organizations. You must consult with organizations representing individuals with disabilities in your home country when developing your training program and your policies and procedures. When making changes to such training programs and related policies and procedures that will have a significant impact on assistance provided to individuals with disabilities, you must consult with organizations representing individuals with disabilities who would be affected by those changes. If such organizations are not available in your home country, you must consult with individuals with disabilities and/or international organizations representing individuals with disabilities.
(6) Training frequency. You must ensure that all personnel who are required to receive training receive refresher training on the matters covered by this section, as appropriate to the duties of each employee and contractor, as needed to maintain proficiency. The training program must describe how proficiency will be maintained.
(i) All personnel who provide physical assistance to passengers with disabilities must receive initial training described in paragraph (a)(3) of this section by June 17, 2026, and at least once every twelve months thereafter. All personnel who provide physical assistance to passengers with disabilities hired after June 17, 2026, must receive initial training described in paragraph (a)(3) of this section prior to assuming their duties and at least once every twelve months thereafter.
(ii) All personnel who handle passengers' wheelchairs or scooters must receive initial training described in paragraph (a)(4) of this section by June 17, 2026, and at least once every twelve months thereafter. All personnel who handle passengers' wheelchairs or scooters hired after June 17, 2026, must receive initial training described in paragraph (a)(4) of this section prior to assuming their duties and at least once every twelve months thereafter.
(iii) All other personnel must receive training prior to assuming their duties and at least once every three years thereafter.
(7) Contractors. You must provide, or ensure that your contractors receive, training concerning travel by passengers with disabilities. This training is required only for those contractors who interact directly with the traveling public or who handle passengers' assistive devices, and it must be tailored to the employees' functions. Training for contractors must meet the requirements of paragraphs (a)(1) through (6) of this section.
(8) Complaint Resolution Officials (CROs). The employees you designate as CROs, for purposes of § 382.151 of this part, must receive training concerning the requirements of this part, including the training described in paragraphs (a)(3) and (4) of this section and the duties of a CRO prior to assuming their duties as a CRO and at least once every twelve months thereafter.
(b) If you are a carrier that operates only aircraft with fewer than 19 passenger seats, you must ensure that your employees and contractors who directly interact with the traveling public are trained, as appropriate to their duties, to ensure that they are familiar with the matters listed in paragraph (a)(1) of this section, as well as to ensure they are knowledgeable on how to communicate with individuals with differing disabilities, how to physically assist individuals with mobility disabilities, and how to properly handle passengers' wheelchairs and scooters.