Ground handling company dnata is adding four fully electric apron buses to its fleet at Rome Fiumicino Airport, with the Cobus VEGA vehicles scheduled to enter service by mid-November. The company says it will be the first ground handler to operate the new model.
The buses are built specifically for apron work, carrying passengers between terminals and aircraft. According to dnata, they hold more passengers than conventional airport buses, and redesigned doors are intended to speed up boarding and alighting. Improved air conditioning is cited as a comfort gain. Dnata did not disclose battery capacity, range or charging power.
Fleet growth and the wider modernisation programme
The four additions take the Fiumicino bus fleet beyond its current 40 vehicles, 23 of which are already electrically powered. Dnata frames the purchase as a way to make apron handling more efficient and to keep aircraft turnaround times as short as possible.
The order sits inside a wider modernisation programme in which dnata has invested more than €30 million over the past three years. In that period the company acquired more than 550 new ground handling equipment units across Rome Fiumicino, Milan Malpensa and Milan Linate. The range covers 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 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 equipment to hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO).
Dnata did not disclose the value of the bus order, the delivery arrangements beyond the mid-November start, or how the new vehicles will be charged at Fiumicino.
Charging infrastructure as the stated constraint
Further electrification depends on expanding charging infrastructure at the airports, according to dnata, which says it is working with the respective airport operators on that front. Because battery capacity, range and charging power for the VEGA buses have not been published, the duty cycle per charge and the charging capacity required on the apron cannot yet be assessed from the available information.
For passengers the visible change is on the apron, where buses move people between terminal buildings and aircraft stands, so boarding and alighting speed affects how quickly a stand can be cleared. Dnata's claims about higher capacity and faster door flow are company statements and have not been independently verified in the material provided.
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.