The airport will become the world’s first to use the autonomous and remotely controlled passenger bridges
Spanish airports operator, AENA has recently contracted ADELTE – a Barcelona based engineering group – to implement a remote-control operating system (ARCOS) for its passenger boarding bridges (PBB).
The technology will allow PBBs to be controlled from the facility’s technical control room and manoeuvred autonomously to and from all types of commercial aircraft.
All current boarding systems are set to be replaced by the engineering group, who will then install PBBs, pre-conditioned air units, ground power units and fourteen visual docking guidance systems at Seville Airport.
The new operating system has been developed by ADELTE’s engineers over the past five years. Its aim is to reduce operating times whilst accurately docking and undocking the bridges in all weather conditions.
Four airlines at Seville Airport successfully trialled the system last year. PBBs that were not designed by the engineering group were also tested, showing how the system can be introduced to any passenger bridge.
Patxi Artiz, airport business unit director at ADELTE, believes that the new solution will “mark a turning point in PBB handling and have an impact on airport operations around the world.”
The airport’s objective is to implement new technological solutions that make services and operations more efficient.
