Aviogei Group: 50 years in Italian and global airports

Airports are highly complex architectures: gigantic hi-tech structures, multi-service landmarks, efficient in terms of routes, safe, and increasingly environmentally friendly. In recent years there have been more and more case studies of infrastructures designed by archistars (in collaboration with large engineering firms). While our discipline focuses on the buildings and spaces that make up airports, it is not very common to look at the fixed and mobile equipment used to run them, which often features major innovations in terms of technology and design. This is the case of Aviogei, an Italian group – based in Ariccia, Rome – that works in airports all over the world through its companies: Aviogei Airport Equipment Srl, which designs, produces and sells GSE and AGE equipment for aircraft support, and Avio Global Service, which provides maintenance and full rent services in various Italian and foreign airports.

Today Aviogei has more than 120 types of civil and military airport products to its credit, including: passenger stairs, baggage belts, cargo loaders, trolleys, transporters, water and toilet barrels, military K-loaders, mobile control towers... 

In recent years, its main research focus has been on electrically-powered vehicles, which have the dual advantage of being eco-friendly and significantly reducing running costs. In particular, Aviogei has developed an electric ambulift with a capacity of 12 passengers: the Thunderlift 6000E, a unique product that innovates the market of vehicles for assisting people with reduced mobility. Thanks to studies and targeted investments, the Group has become the most qualified manufacturer in the world in this sector.

At the Interairport Europe trade fair, held every two years in Munich, a new version was presented with various implementations, including lithium batteries, solar panels and a special communication interface. Further studies and experiments are underway on technologies enabling remote control of equipment, as well as fuel cells, hydrogen power supply and space logistics equipment. High technological capacity and the desire to innovate are the DNA of Aviogei, which has officially joined the Joint Strike Fighter Program, being selected for the design, development and construction of a special crane for ground and sea support of Lockheed Martin's new F-35 fighter aircraft.