New, greener initiatives at Maastrict Aachen airport

In 2018, Maastricht Aachen Airport announced that it would be moving to a carbon neutral airport, regarding its ground operations, and since then has been leading the way introducing greener initiatives across the airport. Last year, after removing its own diesel ground equipment Carousel – a critical service specialist and a lead logistics operator at Maastricht Aachen Airport – followed suit and ditched its diesel-powered Houchin Ground Power Unit (GPU) and Nissan tug-truck in favour of two greener alternatives: an Electric JetEx7400 Ground Power Unit (GPU) and Simai electric tug-truck.

The replacements – which were originally brought in, in July 2021 – have already brought significant environmental savings. At the end of the last year for instance, it was calculated that Carousel had already reduced its CO2 emissions by 61% through the electrification of equipment, and this number is only set to rise.

“Maastricht Aachen Airport has been fantastic at supporting us as we’ve looked to make these changes and guided us along the way” says Carousel MST Operations Director, and company Environmental Officer, Val Karren.

“They have led by example, first by removing their own diesel GPUs from the airport and then by confirming the installation of new solar panels on the roof of our warehouse which we can use to charge our new electric handling equipment this summer. The output of the switch is not only a much greener approach to our ground operations but by limiting diesel emissions and noise we’ve also created a much better and healthier working environment for our colleagues too.”

Carousel operates a daily flight from Maastricht Aachen Airport, flying six tons of urgent cargo each night from distribution centres in Belgium, France, Germany and The Netherlands, arriving in time for overnight deliveries across the UK and Ireland. Contact us to find out more.