Dnata is preparing to add four fully electric apron buses to its ground-handling fleet at Rome Fiumicino Airport. The vehicles, supplied by Cobus and based on the VEGA model, are scheduled to enter service by mid-November, when they will carry passengers between terminals and aircraft.
The company said it will be the first ground handler to deploy the new model. The buses were developed specifically for airport apron operations. According to dnata, they offer higher passenger capacity than conventional airport buses, while redesigned doors are intended to speed boarding and alighting. Improved air-conditioning is also included for passenger comfort. Dnata did not provide details on battery capacity, range or charging power.
The VEGA buses are intended for a task that combines high passenger volumes with tight aircraft turnaround windows. Dnata’s disclosure focuses on capacity, door layout and cabin comfort rather than energy storage or charging, so the vehicles’ operating range and charging requirements remain unclear.
The four vehicles will take the bus fleet at Fiumicino beyond its current 40 units. Twenty-three of those existing buses are already electrically powered. Dnata says the new buses are meant to make apron handling more efficient and help keep aircraft turnaround times as short as possible.
The purchase sits within a wider modernisation programme covering dnata’s Italian operations. Over the past three years, the company has invested more than €30 million in the programme and acquired more than 550 new ground-support 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.
Across the three Italian airports, dnata operates more than 1,000 motorised ground-handling equipment units. More than 60% of them are now electrically powered, according to the company. Where full electrification is not yet operationally feasible, dnata is gradually converting diesel-powered equipment to run on hydrotreated vegetable oil, or HVO.
The investment figure covers the three Italian airports, not Fiumicino alone. Dnata’s Italian network therefore provides the scale for the bus deployment, with the four new vehicles representing one element of a larger equipment renewal effort across Rome and Milan.
The pace of further electrification will also depend on expanding charging infrastructure at the airports. Dnata says it is working with the relevant airport operators on that issue. The company’s Italian business 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 each year.