Following completion of the DANOVA project, Budapest Airport has become the first in Europe to provide an independent indoor navigation application for blind and visually impaired passengers. The airport has also installed tactile walking surface indicators along 1,100m of passenger areas.
‘DANOVA – Innovative transport services for blind and partially sighted passengers in the Danube Region’ is an initiative funded by the European Union’s Interreg Danube research and development framework programme, aiming to make transport fully and independently accessible to blind and partially sighted passengers.
“We are committed to promoting equal opportunities; we therefore pay special attention to the needs of our passengers with disabilities,” said Katalin Valentínyi, Chief Communications and Government Relations Officer, Budapest Airport. “The majority of the airport has always been accessible and, together with our contracted medical partner, we have provided all the help and support we can for blind and partially sighted passengers. In the framework of the DANOVA project, a dedicated navigation app is being added to the range of services supporting accessible travel, and we are particularly proud that Budapest Airport’s participating staff members have acquired the skills needed to help visually impaired people in a two-day workshop.”
Budapest Airport has made the BindiMaps indoor navigation app available on the landside of Terminal 2. The voice control works in English, with the passenger entering the desired destination into the app using the assistance service available on their phone and the app navigates them to the selected location within an accuracy of 2-4cm. Depending on its popularity, Budapest Airport will make the app available in Hungarian as well in the future.
