At the moment, the Royal Schiphol Group has outlined two testing phases with aircraft.
The first will be carried out with an empty Corendon Dutch Airlines 737 aircraft. The plane will be towed by the hybrid vehicle to multiple runways to measure efficiency and sustainability. If the Royal Schiphol Group is happy with the findings, the taxibot will progress to the next stage of testing.
At this next stage, Schiphol will carry out the same trial only this time with an operational aircraft. It has so far named three carriers that might take part in that next stage of testing. These are KLM, easyJet, and Transavia.
Staff will continue to research this new method of taxiing after the vehicle has been returned to its lessors, Smart Airport Systems. By fall 2020, the airport will have a clear understanding as to whether this new method of taxiing is feasible. //
According to Schiphol, it takes 14 minutes for an aircraft to taxi to the runway. That’s 14 minutes of fuel consumed and harmful emissions produced, plus the time it takes to warm up the engine. On the way back, it will take around nine minutes for an arriving aircraft to reach the gate. All in all, that’s a saving of over 23 minutes of fuel burn time saved per aircraft on every single flight.
