Ground handler dnata is expanding its bus fleet at Rome Fiumicino Airport with four Cobus VEGA electric apron buses, scheduled to enter service by mid-November. The vehicles will carry passengers between terminals and aircraft. Dnata says it will be the first ground handler to deploy the VEGA model.
Cobus developed the buses specifically for airport apron operations. According to dnata, they offer higher passenger capacity than conventional airport buses. Redesigned doors are intended to speed boarding and alighting, while improved air conditioning is meant to raise passenger comfort. Dnata did not disclose battery capacity, range or charging power, leaving the vehicles' operating envelope and charging requirements unclear from the announcement.
The four vehicles will take the Fiumicino bus fleet beyond its current 40 units, 23 of which are already electric. Electric buses therefore already make up a majority of the current fleet. Dnata says the new buses are intended to make apron handling more efficient and to keep aircraft turnaround times as short as possible. The company did not say whether older buses would be withdrawn or how the additional capacity would be scheduled.
The order forms part of a modernisation programme in which dnata has invested more than €30 million over the past three years. In that period it acquired more than 550 new ground handling equipment units at Rome Fiumicino, Milan Malpensa and Milan Linate. The equipment includes passenger buses as well as baggage tractors, conveyor belts, passenger stairs, aircraft loaders and pushback tractors.
Fleet electrification and remaining diesel use
Across the three Italian airports, dnata operates more than 1,000 motorised ground handling equipment units. More than 60% are now electrically powered. For equipment where full electrification is not yet operationally feasible, dnata is gradually converting diesel-powered units to hydrotreated vegetable oil, or HVO.
The company says further electrification depends on expanding charging infrastructure at the airports and that it is working with the relevant airport operators on that task. The four buses therefore add to a fleet transition that is already under way, but one whose pace is tied to infrastructure outside the vehicles themselves.
In Italy, dnata employs around 5,000 people and serves more than 60 airlines. At its three locations, the company handles more than 150,000 flights, 46 million passengers and nearly 18 million pieces of baggage annually.
The figures put the bus order in the context of a large ground-handling operation. The modernisation programme covers baggage, boarding and aircraft handling equipment as well as passenger transport.