ADA Website Accessibility Audits for Four Major International Airports
One airport rebuilt its entire website based on our audit findings. When we re-audited 20 months later, conformance had risen from 27.5% to 54.8% — a 53% reduction in total issues.
Project Overview
Accessibility Innovations has conducted WCAG 2.2 Level AA audits for four major international airports. Under the Air Carrier Access Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act, airports must ensure critical digital services such as gate information, accessibility requests, parking, transportation, and terminal navigation are accessible to travellers with disabilities.
Our engagements have included initial conformance audits, remediation advisory, and re-audit verification across major aviation markets in the United States. In one documented engagement, our findings led to a complete website rebuild followed by a re-audit to measure improvement.
The ADA & Section 508 Conformance Challenge
Each airport came to us at a different point in its accessibility journey. Some needed a clear conformance baseline before committing to a remediation program. Others had already begun remediation and needed independent verification of their progress. All of them required testing that went beyond automated scanning — covering keyboard navigation, screen reader compatibility, colour contrast, form labelling, and the specific user journeys a traveller with a disability depends on most.
For airports, the stakes are operational, not just legal. A passenger who cannot access gate change information, request a wheelchair, or find accessible parking information has encountered a barrier before they reach the terminal.
Our WCAG 2.2 Audit & Remediation Approach
For each engagement, we tested against WCAG 2.2 Level AA across a representative sample of pages, prioritising high-traffic templates and critical user journeys. Testing combined automated tools with manual evaluation using NVDA, keyboard-only navigation, and colour contrast analysis. Each airport received a detailed audit report mapping every issue to its WCAG success criterion, with remediation guidance prioritised by user impact and implementation effort.
In our most documented engagement, we audited 62 pages in March–April 2024. The airport commissioned a full website rebuild based on our findings. In December 2025, we returned and re-audited the new site across 55 pages.
Project Snapshot
Industry
Aviation
Location
United States
Compliance Standard
ADA
Key Result
4 airports | 53% issue reduction
Accessibility Audit Results: Before and After
Services Used
Legislation: Air Carrier Access Act | Americans with Disabilities Act | Section 508
Working on a similar challenge?
Accessibility Innovations is a principal-led practice with over twelve years of delivery across federal, state, municipal, and private sector clients in the United States. Every engagement is led by a credentialed senior consultant. Our team holds CPWA, CPACC, and PMP credentials, and our work is backed by $5M errors and omissions insurance.
Whether you are managing ACAA digital conformance, preparing for an FAA accessibility inquiry, or building an airport accessibility program, we would welcome the conversation.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
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Do airports have to comply with WCAG 2.2 or is WCAG 2.1 sufficient?
Many airports still work toward WCAG 2.1 AA, but WCAG 2.2 is now considered the stronger and more future-ready accessibility standard for digital services.
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How many pages do you typically audit for an airport website engagement?
The number depends on the size of the website, but we usually review key templates, high-traffic pages, and critical traveller journeys first.
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What is the difference between automated scanning and manual screen reader testing for airport websites?
Automated tools find technical errors, while manual testing checks whether real users can actually navigate and complete important tasks using assistive technology.
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How long does a re-audit take after a website has been rebuilt?
Most re-audits are completed within a few weeks, depending on the size of the rebuilt website and the number of pages tested.