Soon IGI Airport to get aircraft washing robots

Prateek Chauhan

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 25

Indira Gandhi International Airport will soon get aircraft washing robots to clean the jumbo jets. According to a Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) official, the washing technique will be imported from Sweden.

Till now, more than dozens of people were involved in cleaning the aircraft and they were consuming a lot of time and the quality of work was not up to the international standards either. But with these robots, aircraft will be cleaned in less time with more accuracy.

In this regard, DIAL has issued tender to Air India SATS as well. In India, this will be the first technique of its kind to be installed.

According to Air India spokeperson Dhananjay Kumar, the washing machine will come to India by January-March 2017. Thereafter, they will start working at IGI Airport. Air India SATS has entered into the contract for this automatic technique named Nordik Dino of Aviator Group of Sweden.

It is to be noted that presently the washing and cleaning of aircraft in India is done by manual labor. One average Jumbo 707 aircraft takes eight to ten hours to be cleaned by 15 to 20 people. And it is a risky job as well. And there is more likelihood of workers getting injured by even slight carelessness.

The new technique will be completely computerized and automatic. The system will comprise mobile power unit, spray nozzle and cleaning brushes. These could be controlled by a remote control.

Presently, this technique, apart from the British airport, is used by Thai and Qatar airways.

For IGI airport, three types of machines are to be imported. Nordik Dino 4380: This machine is equipped with three arms system. This can clean up to the height of 11 meters of the aircraft.

Nordik Dino 777: This system design is used to clean the B-777, A330 and B747 type of aircraft. This also consists of three arms and can clean as well up to 11 mtrs height aircraft.

Nordik Dino: This system is used in cleaning small aircraft. This is useful for cleaning B757, B737 and A320 model aircraft.