Columbia Metropolitan Airport expands accessibility with new online inclusive experience
October 8, 2024Columbia Metropolitan Airport (CAE) is expanding its commitment to accessible travel by launching an inclusive, online experience for passengers to access content and airport information barrier-free through the CAE website.
Travelers will now be able to customize their experience on the CAE website – www.FlyCAE.com – through the digital plugin Recite Me. The multi-icon toolbar offers a wide range of accessibility and language support functions that are easy to toggle between and adjust.
“We’re focused on empowering every passenger with the tools and resources needed to garner information about a flight, to book a flight and to safely and conveniently travel through our airport,” said CAE President & CEO, Mike Gula. “We are dedicated to creating an inclusive environment that ensures all travelers, regardless of their needs, have a seamless experience from garage to gate.”
From increasing the font size on a page and changing background colors, to increasing cursor size, changing the language of text or having a page audibly dictated, this new toolbar will ensure as many individuals as possible are able to engage with CAE’s content to support their travel experience from start to finish.
Recite Me’s website states that, “… over 25% of the population may encounter barriers when exploring website’s due to having a disability, learning difficultly, visual impairment or if English is not their second language.” (Source: Reciteme.com).
In addition to the Recite Me toolbar, CAE has incorporated other accessible-focused initiatives into the airport footprint that are aimed at making travel as easy as possible for all travelers.
In 2022, CAE was the first airport in South Carolina to adopt the Sunflower Program – a program in place within airports that encourages those traveling with a hidden disability to take a sunflower lanyard as a way for airport staff to identify a traveler who needs additional assistance.
Shortly after this program was in place, CAE re-established its wildly popular therapy dog program with a new name, CAEnines. Because travel can be stressful, this program allows certified dogs to roam the terminal with their handlers to engage with travelers.
Annually, CAE supports and co-hosts The Arc of South Carolina’s Wings for All event (a partnership with Delta Air Lines and Enterprise Holdings) in which individuals on the autism spectrum or those with intellectual and developmental disabilities can have the experience of moving through the airport ticketing and screening process before boarding a parked aircraft.
Finally, as part of an ongoing capital improvement efforts across the terminal, CAE is currently building out a family restroom equipped with an adult changing table, as well as a private nursing room for its passengers. These two areas are on track to be completed by the end of 2024. A sensory room and a wellness/meditation room will be added by the later summer of 2025 with the completion of the ongoing checkpoint expansion project.
For more information about CAE’s accessibility efforts or to engage with the new Recite Me toolbar, please visit www.FlyCAE.com.
About the Columbia Metropolitan Airport
Providing 26+ daily flights with nonstop service to nine major airports in eight cities including Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, New York City (LGA), Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. (Dulles and Reagan National), Columbia Metropolitan Airport (CAE), a two-time Global Biorisk Advisory Council® (GBAC) STAR™ accredited facility, is a major economic driver for the Midlands region. Welcoming over 1.2 million passengers in 2023, CAE is served by American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines and serves as a regional cargo hub for UPS and served by cargo carrier, FedEx. Want to save money the next time you park at the airport? Pre-book your parking and save on the spot by visiting https://flycae.com/airport/