Bryan Zhao, CEO of Maribor, Slovenia-headquartered airport bus manufacturer TAM-Europe, spoke to Airside International during the recent annual Airside Event in Milan about his company’s current priorities and future plans
Q: Can you tell us a little bit about what in particular you wanted to promote about TAM-Europe at the event?
A: We made a decision to join the event with silver sponsorship because we think that the event is a great gathering of all GSE and ramp-related entities from right across Europe and around the world. It represents a good opportunity for us to present the work we’ve done recently and our plans for the coming months and years, as well as to come face-to-face with our potential customers.
Also, we have so many great partners who are also at the event, such as TCR, Pegasus, Menzies and so on, to say ‘hi’ to and to talk about future co-operation.
In this case, we presented our best products, our VivAir series of airport buses. It has been the most important part of our product line up to now and will be so for coming years.
That is why we spare no efforts in maintaining their high quality as well as in innovating wherever we can. For example, we have put a great deal of thought into upgrading even the smallest plastic parts on the holding bar used by passengers within the bus, for improving the quality of the vehicle without increasing the price.
Q: The VivAir airport bus series is at the heart of your airport bus offering; what do you think makes it so unique?
A: In that series, the model 104WL VivAir airport bus is currently the world’s largest in this segment, offering efficiency, cost reductions and safety (the less equipment operating on the ramp, the fewer problems there are) to our customers.
But that is not all. Our VivAir series of airport buses is the only one made with a monocoque structure, which is so far the safest solution for bus manufacturing and is widely used in the bus industry, especially in the coach segment.
The series is also integrated with the CAN [Controller Area Network] system, which is basically a mandatory part of the modern coach. Our model 104WL stood the test of our partner in Dubai in the tough environment of an extremely high temperature. In the same test, the maintenance cost was comparatively low compared to other buses.
Q: TAM has been making strides down the road as regards fully electric buses; can you tell us where you are in terms of greener airside passenger buses?
A: While we are working very hard as always on our airport buses, we also don’t want to miss the trend towards zero emission transportation. That is why we started our electric vehicle (EV) bus project two years ago. We are very proud to say that the first prototype was finished and was test-driven for a long time. It has been working pretty well so far. Our plan is to put the EV bus into serial production in 2018. By then, we would be really glad to have a great platform for VIP airport buses and for airside passengers.
Q: Do you think that fully electric buses are likely to be the future for airside passenger transportation?
A: Environmentally friendly transportation is the irreversible trend coming at us. The same thing will happen to airside equipment. We should happily accept it, not reject it. As of now, electric vehicles are still the best solution in that area.
In this case, the whole TAM team has been and will be joining in our effort to make the company the best airport bus company in the world – as well as to make the company one of the most respectable EV bus companies in the world. And I am convinced that we could see that happening in the foreseeable future.
