Ground handler dnata is adding four fully electric apron buses to its fleet at Rome Fiumicino Airport, with the vehicles scheduled to enter service by mid-November. The buses, the VEGA model built by manufacturer Cobus, will carry passengers between the terminals and the aircraft.
According to dnata, the company will be the first ground handler to deploy this new model. The vehicles were developed specifically for use on airport aprons, the areas where aircraft are parked, loaded and serviced between flights.
dnata says the VEGA offers a higher passenger capacity than conventional airport buses. Redesigned doors are said to speed up boarding and alighting, while improved air conditioning is intended to make the journey more comfortable. The company has not disclosed details on battery capacity, range or charging power.
With the four new vehicles, the bus fleet at Fiumicino will expand beyond its current 40 units, of which 23 are already electrically powered. dnata says the additions are intended to make apron handling more efficient and to keep aircraft turnaround times as short as possible.
The order forms part of a broader modernisation programme in which dnata has invested more than €30 million over the past three years. During that period the company has acquired more than 550 new ground handling equipment units at Rome Fiumicino, Milan Malpensa and Milan Linate. Alongside passenger buses, the purchases include baggage tractors, conveyor belts, passenger stairs, aircraft loaders and pushback tractors.
Across the three Italian airports, dnata operates more than 1,000 motorised ground handling units, of which over 60 per cent are now electrically powered. Where full electrification is not yet operationally feasible, the company is gradually converting diesel-powered equipment to run on hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO).
Further electrification will depend on the expansion of charging infrastructure at the airports, according to dnata. The company says it is working with the respective airport operators to achieve this.
dnata did not say when the remaining diesel units at the three airports might be replaced, or how the new buses will be charged at Fiumicino.
Set against more than 1,000 motorised units in Italy, the 60 per cent figure implies that a sizeable part of dnata's ground support equipment at the three airports is still not battery-electric, with HVO covering part of the remainder.
In Italy, dnata employs around 5,000 people and serves more than 60 airlines. At its three locations the company handles over 150,000 flights, 46 million passengers and nearly 18 million pieces of baggage each year.