Dnata is preparing to deploy four fully electric Cobus VEGA apron buses at Rome Fiumicino Airport, with the vehicles set to enter service by mid-November. The buses will carry passengers between terminals and aircraft. According to dnata, it will be the first ground handler to put this model into operation at an airport. The deployment is part of the company’s continuing investment in electrifying its vehicle fleet in Italy.
The VEGA buses were developed specifically for use on airport aprons. Dnata says they offer a 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 further comfort improvement. The company did not disclose details about battery capacity, range or charging power.
Fleet expansion at Fiumicino
The four additions will expand the airport’s bus fleet beyond its current 40 vehicles. Of those, 23 are already electrically powered. Dnata says the new buses are intended to make apron handling more efficient and to help keep aircraft turnaround times as short as possible.
The purchase forms part of 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 airports.
The programme therefore covers three airports rather than a single site: Rome Fiumicino, Milan Malpensa and Milan Linate. The new buses at Fiumicino are one part of that multi-site equipment renewal.
The equipment list 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, and more than 60 per cent of them are now electrically powered. The programme therefore spans passenger transport and the wider set of ramp equipment used during aircraft turnaround.
Charging constraints and fuel conversion
Where full electrification is not yet operationally feasible, dnata is gradually converting diesel-powered equipment to run on hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO). The company says further electrification also depends on the expansion of charging infrastructure at the airports, and that it is working with the respective airport operators on that issue.
The Italian operation provides scale for these investments. Dnata employs around 5,000 people in the country 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 annually.