Ground handling provider dnata is adding four fully electric apron buses to its fleet at Rome Fiumicino Airport, using the VEGA model built by Cobus. The vehicles are scheduled to begin transporting passengers between terminals and aircraft from mid-November, according to the company.
dnata says it will be the first ground handler to deploy the VEGA model. The buses were developed specifically for work on the apron and, in the company's account, offer higher passenger capacity than conventional airport buses. Redesigned doors are intended to speed up boarding and alighting, while improved air conditioning is meant to raise comfort during transit across the ramp.
The announcement does not disclose battery capacity, range or charging power, so the operating envelope of the four vehicles — including how they will be scheduled around charging windows on a busy apron — remains unquantified.
Fleet context at Fiumicino
The four additions extend the bus fleet at Fiumicino beyond its current 40 vehicles, of which 23 are already electrically powered. dnata links the purchase to operational efficiency: the new buses are intended to make apron handling more efficient and help keep 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 it acquired more than 550 new ground handling equipment units at Rome Fiumicino, Milan Malpensa and Milan Linate, covering 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, over 60 per cent of which 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
dnata says further electrification depends on the expansion of charging infrastructure at the airports, and that it is working with the respective airport operators to achieve it. That places the pace of conversion at least partly outside the handler's control: the vehicles can be ordered and delivered on a company timetable, but the power supply on the apron depends on airport-side investment. The company has not set out a timetable for when the remaining diesel units in Italy might be replaced.
Italy is a substantial part of dnata's ground handling footprint. The company employs around 5,000 people there 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. The four new buses therefore represent a small addition in unit terms, but one that touches a high-frequency, passenger-facing part of the operation.