London Heathrow to Deploy HVO, Electric COBUS Passenger Vehicles

In November 2023, the airline British Airways Plc. placed an order with COBUS Industries GmbH for the delivery of 38 right-hand drive apron buses to be used for its operations at London Heathrow Airport. The order consists of 15 buses operating on hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) fuel and 23 fully electric buses (when being used or driven) for passenger transportation. 

Delivery of the type COBUS 2700S HVO buses will start this summer. Once the charging infrastructure has been installed at London Heathrow, British Airways plans to deploy the electric e.COBUS 2700S from summer 2025.  

British Airways opted for the short COBUS 2700S version due to its small turning circle, which facilitates manoeuvring on the busy apron. The transport capacity of up to 77 passengers and doors on both sides of the vehicle are further convincing features of this bus variant. 

"We are delighted to support British Airways, one of the world's leading airlines, with our innovative buses for efficient and more sustainable passenger transportation. This order once again underlines the convincing quality and technological pioneering role of our apron buses, particularly on the European market," said Patricia Vasconcelos, CEO of COBUS Industries.

“We are committed to reaching net zero emissions by 2050 or sooner and our focus isn’t just about reducing emissions in the air, but on the ground too. This investment into our ground operations vehicles at Heathrow is part of our wider environmental objective to minimize emissions from our airside ground operation. We’re proud of the work we are doing in this space and are excited to continue improving the running of our ground operations at Heathrow,” added Tom Moran, British Airways’ Director of Heathrow.