For more than sixty-years; passenger boarding bridges (PBBs) have been, and always will be, a key component of almost every passenger’s airport journey. The tunnel is the final stretch of a journey toward a skyward ascension, and as such, one of the most crucial pieces of equipment in an airport’s arsenal.
At inter airport Europe 2025, Carmen Arganza, Head of Services for Europe, Africa, and Latin America at TK Airport Solutions S.A. showcased her company’s remote-operated passenger boarding bridges, which aim to revolutionise boarding bridge operations across the sector.
Having produced its first brief for bridges in the 1960s, TK Airport Solutions S.A.’s business is now divided across a number of different areas: installations, modernisation, services and digital solutions.
However, the most important facet of the company’s current portfolio is its brand-new fully-remote passenger boarding bridge project: MAX Automate, which is now in operation at Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport (MAD) in Spain.
MAX Automate aims to improve safety via the reduction of in-person involvement in dangerous situations related to the movement of PBBs, increase efficiency by cutting costs and reducing downtime, promote inclusivity through the introduction of regulated, accessible remote-control rooms and, crucially, eliminate operator transfers between PBBs, reducing vehicle usage on the apron and, in turn, lowering CO2 emissions and promoting sustainability.
Each PBB is equipped with up to 9 dedicated 360 degree IP cameras, allowing for a more comprehensive view of proceedings when compared with previous solutions – a window. This allows for those situated in remote-control booths to carry out movements without the need to be on the equipment itself, as well as provide real-time information.
Now in active operation at MAD Airport; MAX Automate was implemented over the course of one full year. Since its installation; the project has begun to account for 1,000 remote operations daily, with all PBBs controlled remotely from a secure location within the airport itself.
The airport, which handles roughly 66 million passengers per year, has seen a 100% reduction in workplace related accidents since the project’s implementation, which includes a total of 129 PBBs across its 5 terminals, with 3 control rooms and 17 control stations situated throughout the site.
Remote operations take place across a series of five steps:
- Information Display – AENA publishes daily flights and then, once aircraft touches the ground, AENA assigns the stand
- Operator Assignment – An RCS coordinator then assigns the operation to a specific remote operator
- Stand Activation – A check list is then run through which consists of the activation of RCS, the selection of a terminal/stand, stand activation and then the turning on of cameras
- PBB Operation – Once all checks have been performed, the remote operation begins execution
- Completion – When the PBB has been docked, the light turns green and the docking operation has been completed
Since MAX Automate has been installed; MAD Airport has reported an increase in operator availability of 72% due to a reduction of unnecessary operations during pre-docking, which has in turn lead to better demand management, as well a better spread of allocation of resources across other terminals. All operations are assigned due to demand, shortening any additional time previously used to assess any given operation before it is carried out.
Across one year, MAD Airport has achieved a total of 360,000 successful PBB operations as a result of the installation of MAX Automate – which can also be combined with TK’s ADA (Automatic Docking Assistance) technology, enabling a fully automated docking procedure.
At an event so focused on bespoke solutions and the risks associated with a full-scale move to new technology; MAX Automate stands tall as one more solution that, thus far, has proven itself to be more than worth any potential risk, and one that it would hope will be adopted at airports across the globe.
