The CAA said Gatwick, Bristol, Cardiff, Liverpool and Norwich all needed to do more to help passengers with accessibility issues after surveying all UK airports handling more than 150,000 annual passengers.

A dozen airports examined in the CAA’s latest Airports Accessibility report received a "good" rating. These include Heathrow, which has made progress following a "needs improvement" rating in 2022/23.

Also deemed good were Aberdeen, Belfast International, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Edinburgh, Exeter, Inverness, London City, Luton, Manchester and Sumburgh.

Belfast City and City of Derry were singled out for praise after exceeding the CAA’s "very good" criteria once again, and were among 11 airports given this rating.

Also rated very good were Newquay, Glasgow, East Midlands, Prestwick, Leeds Bradford, Stansted, Newcastle and Teesside. The CAA said Southampton airport, in particular, had improved its assistance services and increased its rating from last time.

For the first time since 2020, no UK airport received a "poor" rating.

Anna Bowles, CAA head of consumer policy and enforcement, said: “Making aviation accessible to all is an important part of our work to protect the public and enable the aerospace sector.

"Progress is being made, and not rating any airports ‘poor’ this year is welcome, but there’s more work to do, especially by those airports we have rated ‘needs improvement’ in our report. We will continue to work with the sector to ensure that standards are maintained and improved.”

The CAA began setting standards for airports in 2014. For the first time, this year’s report also includes a “deep dive accessibility assessment” of airports throughout the year. Heathrow, Stansted and Luton were the airports to be assessed in greater depth this year.

Karen Dee, chief executive of AirportsUK, the trade body for UK airports, said: "Airports work very hard to ensure those passengers who require extra assistance can enjoy the benefits of air travel and while there is always more to be done, we are heading in the right direction.

“More investment is being made in staff, training, technologies and accessible infrastructure, and airports are in continuous discussion with passenger groups to incorporate feedback, meaning we are confident that we will continue to see improvements.”