Swissport has moved more than 75% of its motorized ground support equipment to preventive maintenance driven by usage data as well as calendar intervals, according to David Fernandez, the company's global head of fleet. The shift sits alongside a corporate target of a 55% electric motorized fleet by 2032 and mandatory electric procurement policies.

Fernandez, an aeronautical engineer whose background includes Airbus and Iberia/IAG, laid out the transition in an interview with Ground Support Worldwide at GSE Expo Europe in Lisbon. He has spent three years at Swissport.

What is replacing calendar-based maintenance?

Fernandez draws a deliberate line between what Swissport is doing now and full predictive maintenance. "I'm not talking yet about predictive maintenance. I'm talking more about usage-based preventive maintenance," he said.

The distinction matters because, in his view, manufacturers have not yet fitted enough sensors to report the actual condition of each unit. Instead, Swissport combines telematics provider data, OEM information and the equipment's own outputs to adjust maintenance schedules to real utilization.

His example: a towbarless pushback logging 600 power-on hours per year. Of those, perhaps only 200 hours are spent driving, and only around 70 involve moving with an aircraft.

"If in the past I only knew about those 600 hours, that was what I had to rely on," Fernandez said. The additional figures let him time maintenance to each unit's actual duty cycle — though inspections remain necessary because the data still does not reveal the unit's health.

The cost logic is straightforward. Electric equipment needs less maintenance than internal combustion equivalents — no oil changes, no engine-associated servicing — and usage-based scheduling keeps work within OEM requirements while tailoring intervals to the individual unit.

Swissport has not built the underlying software itself. It runs a commercial off-the-shelf asset management platform configured around its own processes and policies. Fernandez said the company remains conservative: whichever trigger comes first, usage or the calendar, drives the next preventive maintenance task. He expects the calendar to drop out of the equation in the near future.

How is AI changing ramp operations?

Fernandez said AI currently delivers more benefit on the operational side than in the workshop, where GSE works around aircraft. Cameras, radar and other systems give operators greater visibility and can flag problems before they occur.

Existing examples include loaders with rearview cameras that detect pedestrians. Swissport wants to go further:

• Detecting whether the bypass pin is installed before pushback
• Verifying whether aircraft doors have closed properly
• Checking docking speed and slope during aircraft approaches

"AI gives our operators additional eyes and additional sensors," Fernandez said. "It expands the capabilities of our people and can make the operation safer."

Is an inflection point coming?

In Fernandez's framing, the real disruption ahead is automation, not connectivity. Swissport is already testing autonomous vehicles, as has been publicly disclosed, and he said the industry's inflection point will be defined by how much automation enters airport operations.

Until then, he characterizes current work — safer GSE operations around aircraft and more tailored maintenance — as significant but not yet disruptive compared with the automation step ahead.

What can smaller handlers take from this?

Fernandez argued scale is irrelevant to adoption. The barriers to electrification are charging infrastructure and the transformation journey with operations teams, but he said electric GSE has proven itself "safer, smoother to operate, cheaper to operate, simpler to operate and simpler to maintain." For Swissport, he said, that question is settled.

The ingredients smaller handlers need:

• Commitment to electrification
• The right maintenance policies and intervals
• Supporting processes, systems and training
• IoT and AI layered on top to close remaining safety gaps

"The scale doesn't matter," Fernandez said — the package works regardless of fleet size.

His broader message is that fleet management has outgrown unit selection. OEMs have specialized, and handlers know how to turn an aircraft around. But with fleet programming, IoT, cameras, AI and automation converging, Fernandez said the discipline must now be managed holistically — much broader than treating each vehicle in isolation. Autonomous vehicle testing at Swissport will indicate how quickly that broader picture arrives.