Vehicles & Transportation

dnata to put four Cobus VEGA electric apron buses into service at Rome Fiumicino

Mei-Lin ChenNovember 3, 20265 min read0 views

At a glance

  • The four battery-electric passenger buses are due to enter service by mid-November, extending a three-year Italian ground-handling modernisation worth more than €30 million.
  • dnata plans to deploy four Cobus VEGA electric apron buses at Rome Fiumicino Airport by mid-November, taking the electric share of its bus fleet there to 27 of more than 40 vehicles. The order is part of a wider Italian programme in which over 60 per cent of the handler's 1,000-plus motorised equipment units are now electric, with further conversion dependent on airport charging capacity.
A stylised electric airport passenger bus with wide boarding doors waits at a terminal gate, with an airliner and ground equipment visible on the apron behind it.

Ground handler dnata is adding four fully electric apron buses to its operation at Rome Fiumicino Airport, with the vehicles scheduled to enter service by mid-November. The buses are the VEGA model from manufacturer Cobus, and dnata says it will be the first ground handler to deploy this new vehicle.

The buses were developed specifically for use on the apron and are designed to carry passengers between terminal buildings and aircraft. 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 cited as a comfort gain. The company did not disclose battery capacity, range or charging power for the new vehicles.

Fleet growth at Fiumicino

The four additions will take the bus fleet at Fiumicino beyond its current 40 vehicles, of which 23 are already electrically powered. dnata frames the purchase as a means of making apron handling more efficient and keeping aircraft turnaround times as short as possible.

The order sits inside a broader modernisation programme in which dnata has invested more than €30 million over the past three years. During that period the company has taken on more than 550 new ground handling equipment units across Rome Fiumicino, Milan Malpensa and Milan Linate. Alongside passenger buses, the equipment acquired includes:

  • 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 hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO).

Charging infrastructure as a constraint

According to dnata, further electrification also depends on the expansion of charging infrastructure at the airports, and the company says it is working with the respective airport operators to achieve this. The Fiumicino deployment therefore extends an electrification effort that is well advanced in share terms but still bounded by airside power availability.

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.

Reported by Mei-Lin Chen, Interior and Exterior Accessories Fitment Analyst.