Ground handler dnata is adding four battery-electric apron buses to its operation at Rome Fiumicino Airport, with the Cobus VEGA 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 handling company to deploy the new Cobus VEGA model. The vehicle was developed specifically for work on the apron — the paved area where aircraft are parked, loaded and serviced — and is designed to move passengers between the terminal and the aircraft stand.
Capacity, doors and cabin comfort
According to dnata, the buses offer a higher passenger capacity than conventional airport buses. Redesigned doors are intended to speed up boarding and alighting, while improved air conditioning is meant to make the cabin more comfortable. The company has not disclosed battery capacity, range or charging power for the VEGA vehicles.
Fiumicino bus fleet grows past 40 vehicles
The four new vehicles take the airport bus fleet at Fiumicino beyond its current 40 units, 23 of which are already electrically powered. dnata presents the additions as a contribution to more efficient apron handling and to keeping aircraft turnaround times as short as possible — the window in which an aircraft is cleaned, catered, refuelled and reloaded between flights.
Part of a three-year, €30 million programme
The order sits within a broader modernisation programme in which dnata has invested more than €30 million over the past three years. During that period the company acquired more than 550 new ground handling equipment units at Rome Fiumicino, Milan Malpensa and Milan Linate, covering passenger buses as well as baggage tractors, conveyor belts, passenger stairs, aircraft loaders and pushback tractors.
Across the three Italian airports, dnata now operates more than 1,000 motorised ground handling units, of which over 60 per cent are electrically powered. Where full electrification is not yet operationally feasible, the company says it is progressively converting diesel-powered equipment to hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO).
Charging infrastructure remains the constraint
dnata says further electrification of its Italian fleet depends on the expansion of charging infrastructure at the airports, and that it is working with the respective airport operators to achieve this. Charging arrangements for the four new buses at Fiumicino were not disclosed.
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 a year.
The company did not disclose the purchase price of the four buses, the terms of the Cobus order or a delivery schedule beyond the planned start of operations in mid-November.