British Airways has held the first meeting of a new independent panel made up of passengers with different disabilities.

The Customer Access Advisory Panel aims to improve the experience for its customers with accessibility requirements and is made up of people with both visible and non-visible disabilities.

The panel will meet every few months to give feedback, discuss and review new initiatives.

It is chaired by wheelchair user and accessible aviation consultant Mary Doyle.

She said: “I’m over the moon to support British Airways as Chair of its new Customer Access Advisory Panel as this demonstrates a visible commitment from the airline’s leadership to make flying more comfortable and dignified for everyone.

“Tailoring the customer experience is key to our success, as disability is not one size fits all. We have a great team of professionals with lived experience on the panel who are curious, innovative and put the customer at the centre of all decisions. This team is committed to helping British Airways learn directly from the disability community and we’ll have some fun along the way.”

Also on the panel is Simon Houghton, who was born deaf and who is the founder of UnseenAware; Paul Hayman, a financial officer and frequent traveller who has autism; Dom Hyams, marketeer and Founding Editor of  Disability Power100 – Power List of Disability; entrepreneur Neil Barnfather MBE, who is blind; and content producer and wheelchair user Jennie Berry.