a major European international airport operated by a large facilities and cleaning contractor
How a Major European Airport Hub Reclaimed 1,760 Labor Hours With Scrubbers
A European hub deployed 34 autonomous scrubbers with water recycling, reclaiming 1,760 labor hours yearly and cutting tank-handling work that took seven minutes per cycle.
- 1,760 hrs
- labor back
- 34
- scrubbers
- 80%
- water reuse
- 64% ROI
- 5-year ROI
Based on a documented real-world deployment. Figures are from public reporting; the organization is not named.
Terminal floors strained a stretched cleaning team
A major European international airport operated by a large facilities and cleaning contractor moves tens of millions of passengers each year. Hard floors in check-in halls and airside connectors must stay presentable through peak banks, spills, and rolling luggage wear.
Cleaning relied heavily on agency staff, with high turnover and regular sickness absences that disrupted daily routines. Manual scrubber water emptying and refilling took up to seven minutes per cycle, stacking into thousands of hours of low-value work across terminals.
Leadership needed scrubbing that stayed consistent in crowds while freeing people for high-touch sanitization and passenger-facing tasks.
- High agency turnover on cleaning teams
- Seven-minute tank cycles on manual scrubbers
- Passenger-visible floors in constant use
A fleet of autonomous scrubbers with docked charging
From late 2022 the contractor rolled out 34 autonomous scrubbers paired with 18 charging docks across check-in and airside zones. Units use onboard filtration to recycle and reuse up to 80% of scrub water during a route.
That design removed the repeated drain-and-fill stops that had pulled cleaners off detail work. Fleet software gave supervisors route visibility despite staffing gaps.
Operators mapped teach-and-repeat paths in live terminals, then expanded weekend coverage as confidence grew.
- 34 autonomous scrubbers with 18 charging docks
- Up to 80% onboard water recycling
- Routes in check-in and airside areas
Measured hours, water, and energy gains
Automating water management reclaimed 1,760 labor hours annually across the program. Cleaners shifted time toward higher-value sanitization instead of tank handling.
In one major terminal alone, recycled scrub water saved 340,704 liters annually. The scrubber fleet also saved about 1,441 kW of energy per year compared with prior practices.
The contractor reported 64% return on investment over a five-year view, with net savings large enough to justify nearly doubling the robot count in following years.
What US airport and venue operators can copy
Busy terminals, convention centers, and hospital campuses share the same drain on labor from repetitive scrubber tank work. Airport cleaning robot rental or autonomous floor scrubber rental lets you prove routes before you buy a docked fleet.
Service Robot Co. compares scrubber platforms vendor neutrally, then finances, maps, trains, and maintains units through a nationwide engineer network. Month to month commercial cleaning robot rental fits peak travel seasons when overnight terminal floor scrubbing cannot slip.
Start with one concourse that misses the scrub schedule. Log hours reclaimed from water recycling and crew redeployment, then scale with phased deployment and go live support.