Ground handling company dnata is adding four fully electric apron buses from Cobus to its operation at Rome Fiumicino Airport, with the VEGA-model vehicles scheduled to enter service by mid-November. The buses will carry passengers between terminals and aircraft. Dnata says it will be the first ground handler to deploy the new model.
Cobus developed the VEGA buses specifically for airport aprons. According to dnata, they offer higher passenger capacity than conventional airport buses, while redesigned doors are intended to speed up boarding and alighting. Improved air conditioning is also included for passenger comfort. The company did not provide details on battery capacity, range or charging power.
The four vehicles will expand the bus fleet at Fiumicino beyond its current 40 vehicles. Twenty-three of those are already electrically powered. Dnata says the new buses are meant to make apron handling more efficient and keep aircraft turnaround times as short as possible. They will operate alongside the existing buses at the airport.
The purchase forms part of a wider 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. More than 550 new units have been acquired across the three airports, including passenger buses, 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 equipment units. More than 60 per cent of them 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).
Dnata says further electrification depends on expanding charging infrastructure at the airports. The company 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 annually.
The announcement focuses on passenger capacity, boarding flow and cabin comfort rather than on the technical specification of the vehicles. Because dnata did not disclose battery capacity, range or charging power, the operational implications of the Rome deployment cannot be assessed from the information provided. What is clear is that the buses are intended for scheduled transfers on the apron, where vehicles move passengers between terminal buildings and aircraft. The four vehicles therefore represent an incremental fleet addition, while the wider programme covers a much broader range of ground support equipment. No route length or charging schedule was disclosed.