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Easyjet says it reserves the right to refuse passengers for safety reasons France's Transport Minister, Dominique Bussereau, has called for an inquiry into allegations that low-cost airline Easyjet barred disabled passengers from flying unaccompanied.
He ordered the move after reports that Easyjet had refused to fly disabled passengers on safety grounds.
They were told they must be accompanied by another passenger in order to board the plane.
Easyjet said they were simply complying with safety regulations.
"European safety regulations require that all passengers are able to evacuate an aircraft within 90 seconds and therefore we require that some passengers with reduced mobility have a travel companion," a spokesman for the company said.
"We are already in discussion with the French government to find a workable solution for our passengers without compromising safety."
On the airline's website, it says it that unaccompanied disabled passengers must be "self-reliant in emergency and evacuation situations".
"In reality, this means that you should be able to undo your own seatbelt, put on your own oxygen mask, lifejacket and make your own way to your nearest emergency exit unaided."
In a statement on the French transport ministry's website, Mr Bussereau said the airline should not be allowed to "hide behind safety regulations".
"It must implement solutions adapted to each case, as most companies do. Otherwise it must be sanctioned with the greatest severity," he said.
Mr Bussereau has asked the French civil aviation authority DGAC to conduct the investigation.
Beth Haller, Ph.D., is Co-Director of the Global Alliance for Disability in Media and Entertainment (www.gadim.org). A former print journalist, she is a member of the Advisory Board for the National Center on Disability and Journalism (https://ncdj.org/). Haller is Professor Emerita in the Department of Mass Communication at Towson University in Maryland, USA. Haller is co-editor of the 2020 "Routledge Companion to Disability and Media" (with Gerard Goggin of University of Sydney & Katie Ellis of Curtin University, Australia). She is author of "Representing Disability in an Ableist World: Essays on Mass Media" (Advocado Press, 2010) and the author/editor of Byline of Hope: Collected Newspaper and Magazine Writing of Helen Keller (Advocado Press, 2015). She has been researching disability representation in mass media for 30+ years. She is adjunct faculty in the Disability Studies programs at the City University of New York (CUNY) and the University of Texas-Arlington.