Breeze Airways held an event at Bradley Airport Wednesday to help children with autism get familiar with traveling through an airport and boarding a plane.
On Wednesday, Bradley Airport hosted its third “Autism Flies” event in partnership with Autism Double-Checked and Breeze Airways.
“Autism is about repetitive behaviors, fixed routines,” said Alan Day, co-founder and CEO of Autism Double-Checked.
Day said he knows all about traveling while having a child living with autism.
“Families that have an autistic family member are very used to thinking things through in advanced, it’s their only way to survive,” he said.
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Wednesday’s event gave families with children on the autism spectrum a chance to practice going through the airport.
“Our pilots and flight attendance have all gone through training, so that they know exactly how to manage and make comfortable the flying experience for our guest on the spectrum,” Breeze Airways Chief Guest Officer Fiona Kiesel said.
Mom Katie Ayotte traveled from Durham with her family to attend.
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“When we looked at the window before and he saw the plane he said, 'maybe one day we’ll actually take off,'” she said. “So, I felt like yeah, maybe one day we’ll be able to do this.”
The exercise is helping her son Henson get acclimated to the airport. His sister Kaiya said she’s excited for the day the family can return to Disney World and travel to other places.
“I’m excited just for the experience with them and I think it will be a lot of fun,” she said.
Over 200 people checked in at the Breeze Airways ticketing counter, received boarded passes, went through security, waited at the gate and boarded the aircraft.
“People will come in very cautious, they’ll leave smiling, happy,” Day said. “And if we’ve taken someone from couldn’t get onto the aircraft to flying, we’ve done a great thing.”
