As the aviation industry recovers from the pandemic, passenger numbers continue to rise and airlines are finding that they no longer have the airside staffing capacity to efficiently handle demand.

This has led to delays for aircraft scheduled to take off and land, as well as for passengers waiting to disembark or collect luggage.

To combat these issues and make operations safer and more efficient, many airports and airlines are starting to deploy autonomous solutions as part of their ground-handling services.

In the Netherlands for example, Royal Schiphol Group anticipates that its airside operations will be fully autonomous by 2050. This will include autonomous luggage vehicles, self-driving passenger buses, autonomous tow trucks and automated passenger bridges, which will all be controlled by an interconnected AI-powered traffic management system.