Ground handler dnata is adding four fully electric apron buses to its fleet at Rome Fiumicino Airport, with the Cobus VEGA vehicles scheduled to enter service by mid-November. According to the company, dnata will be the first ground handler to put the new model into operation. Rome Fiumicino is one of three Italian airports where the company provides ground services.
The buses are designed specifically for use on airport aprons, where they carry passengers between terminals and aircraft rather than operating on public roads. dnata says the vehicles offer higher passenger capacity than conventional airport buses. Redesigned doors are intended to speed up boarding and alighting, and improved air conditioning is meant to raise passenger comfort. The company has not disclosed battery capacity, range or charging power, and has not said how the vehicles will be charged at the airport.
What the four buses change at Fiumicino
The new arrivals take the bus fleet at Rome Fiumicino beyond its current 40 vehicles, 23 of which are already electrically powered. On those figures, the four additions would bring the number of electric buses at the airport to 27 of a fleet of 44. dnata links the purchase to more efficient apron handling and to keeping aircraft turnaround times as short as possible.
Part of a three-year investment programme
The buses sit inside a broader modernisation programme in which dnata has invested more than €30 million over the past three years. More than 550 new ground handling equipment units have been acquired in that period at Rome Fiumicino, Milan Malpensa and Milan Linate. Alongside passenger buses, the purchases include:
- baggage tractors
- conveyor belts
- passenger stairs
- aircraft loaders
- pushback tractors
Across the three Italian airports, dnata operates more than 1,000 motorised ground handling units, and more than 60 per cent of these are now electrically powered. Where full electrification is not yet operationally feasible, the company is gradually converting diesel-powered equipment to hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO).
Charging infrastructure remains a limiting factor
According to dnata, further electrification depends on the expansion of charging infrastructure at the airports, and the company says it is working with the respective airport operators to achieve this. In Italy, dnata employs around 5,000 people and serves more than 60 airlines. At its three locations it handles over 150,000 flights, 46 million passengers and nearly 18 million pieces of baggage each year.
dnata has not set out a timetable for converting its remaining diesel-powered units at Fiumicino, nor said how many of the 1,000-plus units in Italy are still to be switched over. The company indicates that the pace of further electrification will hinge on charging capacity at the airports.