• Two-year pilot aims to ease workload at Tokyo airport
• Cargo-handling robots to be deployed first, with broader use planned later

Japanese airline “Japan Airlines” has announced it will begin using humanoid robots in ground handling operations at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport starting next May, as part of a two-year trial designed to reduce pressure on staff.

In the first phase, China-made robots will be used to load and unload cargo containers inside the airport, in a move aimed at improving efficiency in ground operations.

The initiative comes amid a labour shortage in Japan’s aviation sector, driven by rising tourism and a shrinking working-age population, according to the airline, which employs around 4,000 ground staff.

The company hopes to expand the use of these robots in the future to include aircraft cabin cleaning and operating ground support equipment.

Robots are already in use at some Japanese airports for tasks such as security patrols and retail services.

Japan recorded more than seven million foreign visitors in the first two months of this year, according to data from the JTB Group, which operates the country’s largest travel agency.

Tomohiro Uchida, president of GMO AI & Robotics, said airport back-end operations still rely heavily on human labour despite increasing automation.

Meanwhile, Japan Airlines’ ground services chief said robots would help reduce the physical burden on workers, but stressed that sensitive tasks such as safety management would remain exclusively human responsibilities.