The Biden administration introduced on Thursday that it was proposing new laws for a way airways should deal with passengers in wheelchairs, an effort geared toward enhancing air journey for folks with disabilities.

Below the proposed rule, damaging or delaying the return of a wheelchair can be an computerized violation of an current federal regulation that bars airways from discriminating towards folks with disabilities. The Transportation Division stated that change would make it simpler for the company to penalize airways for mishandling wheelchairs.

The proposed laws would additionally require extra sturdy coaching for employees who bodily help disabled passengers or deal with their wheelchairs.

“There are hundreds of thousands of People with disabilities who don’t journey by airplane due to insufficient airline practices and insufficient authorities regulation, however now we’re getting down to change that,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg stated in an announcement. “This new rule would change the way in which airways function to make sure that vacationers utilizing wheelchairs can journey safely and with dignity.”

For folks in wheelchairs, flying will be troublesome and uncomfortable, and errors by airways could make for an much more agonizing expertise. Greater than 11,000 wheelchairs and scooters had been mishandled by airways final 12 months, in line with the Transportation Division.

The proposed laws add to earlier strikes by the Biden administration meant to enhance the flying expertise for disabled vacationers. In 2022, the Transportation Division printed a bill of rights for airline passengers with disabilities. Final 12 months, the company finalized new laws to require extra industrial plane to have accessible bogs.