Japan Airlines to Use Humanoid Robots in Ground Services

Japan Airlines (JAL) announced that it will begin using humanoid robots in ground handling operations at Tokyo Haneda Airport in order to reduce employees’ workload. The company stated that the initiative, which started in May, will be implemented as a two-year pilot project.

During a press demonstration held together with its project partner GMO AI & Robotics, JAL noted that Chinese-made humanoid robots will initially be used for loading and unloading cargo containers.

In its statement, the company emphasized that Japan’s aviation sector is facing a serious labor shortage due to increasing inbound tourism demand and a declining working-age population. Employing approximately 4,000 ground handling staff, JAL aims to ease the physical burden on its employees through robotic support.

Japan Airlines also indicated that these robots could later be used in areas such as cabin cleaning and operating certain ground support equipment. It was also noted that robots are already being used at some Japanese airports for tasks such as security patrols and retail services.

Robot Support for Labor Shortages at Japanese Airports

According to data from JTB Group, one of Japan’s leading tourism companies, Japan welcomed more than 7 million foreign tourists in the first two months of this year. This rise in tourism is said to be further increasing the operational burden at airports.

Tomohiro Uchida, President of GMO AI & Robotics, stated that although airports may appear highly automated and standardized from the outside, their back-end operations still rely heavily on human labor and suffer from significant staffing shortages.

Similarly, JAL Ground Services President Yoshiteru Suzuki noted that deploying robots in physically demanding tasks would provide important benefits for employees. However, Suzuki also emphasized that certain critical roles, such as safety management, must continue to be performed exclusively by humans.

Source: BBC