Ground handler dnata is expanding its vehicle fleet at Rome Fiumicino Airport with four fully electric apron buses supplied by manufacturer Cobus. The VEGA-model vehicles are scheduled to enter service by mid-November, carrying passengers between the terminals and aircraft.
According to the company, dnata will be the first ground handling provider to put this new model into operation. The buses were developed specifically for apron duty and, dnata says, offer higher passenger capacity than conventional airport buses. Redesigned doors are intended to speed up boarding and alighting, while improved air conditioning is meant to raise passenger comfort on the short trips across the apron. dnata has not disclosed battery capacity, range or charging power.
The four additions will take the bus fleet at Fiumicino past its current 40 vehicles, of which 23 are already electrically powered. The company presents the new arrivals as a way to make apron handling more efficient and to keep aircraft turnaround times as short as possible.
The purchase sits inside a broader modernisation programme in which dnata has invested more than €30 million over the past three years. In that period the company has acquired more than 550 new ground handling equipment units across Rome Fiumicino, Milan Malpensa and Milan Linate, covering:
- passenger buses
- baggage tractors
- conveyor belts
- passenger stairs
- aircraft loaders
- pushback tractors
Across the three Italian airports, dnata operates more than 1,000 motorised ground handling equipment 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 also depends on the expansion of charging infrastructure at the airports, according to dnata, which says it is working with the respective airport operators on that front.
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.