Dnata, an international ground-handling service provider, is expanding its bus fleet at Rome Fiumicino Airport with four fully electric passenger buses from manufacturer Cobus. The vehicles are VEGA models and are scheduled to begin transporting passengers between terminals and aircraft in mid-November. According to the company, dnata will be the first ground handler to deploy this model. The deployment is part of dnata’s continuing investment in vehicle electrification in Italy.
The buses were developed specifically for airport apron operations and for moving passengers between terminals and aircraft. Dnata says they offer higher passenger capacity than conventional airport buses. It adds that redesigned doors are intended to speed up boarding and alighting, while improved air-conditioning is meant to increase comfort. The company has not disclosed battery capacity, range or charging power.
Fleet expansion and modernisation
Once in service, the four vehicles will expand the Fiumicino bus fleet beyond its current 40 units. Twenty-three of those existing buses are already electrically powered, so the new vehicles will add to an established electric contingent at the airport. Dnata says the new vehicles are intended to make apron handling more efficient and to help keep aircraft turnaround times as short as possible.
The order is 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. More than 550 new equipment units have been acquired across the three airports during that period, including passenger buses, baggage tractors, conveyor belts, passenger stairs, aircraft loaders and pushback tractors. The investment therefore extends beyond the four buses at Fiumicino to several categories of ground-support equipment.
Across the three Italian airports, dnata operates more than 1,000 motorised ground-handling equipment units in total. More than 60% of them are now electric. Where full electrification is not yet operationally feasible, the company is gradually converting diesel-powered equipment to run on hydrotreated vegetable oil, or HVO.
Charging infrastructure and scale
According to dnata, further electrification also depends on expanding charging infrastructure at the airports. The company says it is working with the respective airport operators to achieve that expansion. Charging availability is therefore a condition the company identifies for further electrification, alongside the vehicles themselves.
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. Those operations provide the scale against which the company is replacing or converting ground-support equipment as it electrifies its fleet.