Lufthansa’s operational trial of the pilot-controlled TaxiBot tow tractor system has been delayed by up to a year due to the volume of certification tests for the semi-robotic vehicle.
Lufthansa had intended to start a six-month operational trial of the TaxiBot at Frankfurt in August 2013, using scheduled flights. However, because the tug has not yet been certified, Lufthansa has only conducted tests with a decommissioned training aircraft, mainly at night when the airport was closed for regular flights.
TaxiBot is under development by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), and is expected to receive approval from the Israeli regulator during July. According to Lufthansa, EU certification is likely to follow “about two months later”.
Unlike other tractors that need to certified by maufacturers as ground support equipment, the pilot-controlled TaxiBot must satisfy specific aircraft specification regulations.