Ground handling company dnata is expanding its bus fleet at Rome Fiumicino Airport with four fully electric apron buses from manufacturer Cobus. The VEGA-model vehicles are scheduled to enter service by mid-November, transporting passengers between terminals and aircraft. Dnata said it will be the first ground handler to deploy the new model.
The buses were developed specifically for airport apron operations. According to dnata, they 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 increase passenger comfort. The company did not disclose battery capacity, range or charging power.
Fleet and operations
The four additions will take the bus fleet at Fiumicino beyond its current 40 vehicles. Twenty-three of those are already electrically powered. Dnata said the new buses are intended to make apron handling more efficient and help keep aircraft turnaround times as short as possible.
The apron is the area where aircraft are parked, loaded and serviced, and passenger buses used there operate in a different environment from public road transport. Dnata's order therefore adds electric capacity to a specific part of airport operations rather than to general road transport. The company did not provide a timetable for further bus replacements at Fiumicino.
The purchase forms part of a broader modernisation programme. Over the past three years, dnata has invested more than €30 million in new ground handling equipment at Rome Fiumicino, Milan Malpensa and Milan Linate. During that period, it acquired more than 550 new equipment units across the three airports, including passenger buses, baggage tractors, conveyor belts, passenger stairs, aircraft loaders and pushback tractors.
Italian fleet mix
Dnata now operates more than 1,000 motorised ground handling equipment units at its three Italian airports. More than 60 per cent of these are electrically powered. Where full electrification is not yet operationally feasible, the company is gradually converting diesel-powered equipment to hydrotreated vegetable oil, or HVO.
According to dnata, further electrification depends on expanding charging infrastructure at the airports. The company said it is working with the respective airport operators to achieve this.
The Italian figures place the four new buses within a larger equipment base. Dnata's disclosure indicates that electric equipment already accounts for a majority of its motorised ground support units in the country, while HVO is being used as a transitional measure for equipment that cannot yet be electrified.
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 annually.