Airport Offers Free Navigating Technology to People With Blindness

Milwaukee General Mitchell International Airport has launched a free technology to help people with blindness navigate the airport.

The service is called Aira, and it essentially guides those with visual impairment to their gate.

The easy-to-use service begins with people signing up through the Aira app. From there, those with blindness use their smartphone or special glasses with a tiny camera in the frame to allow a sighted Aira employee in another city to watch a live video stream of the traveler’s movements.

The Aira employee then instructs the traveler how to navigate to their gate, restaurants, or other facilities in the airport.

Milwaukee General Mitchell International Airport held a demonstration on Tuesday. An Aira agent named Bailey guided a fellow employee, Greg Stilson, who wore smart glasses.

At one point, Stilson said into his phone: “Hey Bailey, I am doing a media event at the Milwaukee Mitchell Airport, and I’m wondering if you can kind of give me just a brief description of what this room looks like and what’s kind of around me here?”

Bailey replied: “Let’s see, it looks like there’s a sign that says Concourse D over there. There’s also a CNBC Newsstand to your right.”

Though Aira has been available at Milwaukee Mitchell Airport for a while, the service previously cost $2 per minute, which could get pretty pricey, if you consider the time it takes to get through security lines and to a gate — without any stops along the way.

Just recently, Milwaukee County has made the service free for anyone who needs assistance getting through the airport with Aira.

County Executive Chris Abele told WUWM 89.7 that the county should make the service free for those who need it because “government exists to serve everybody.”

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