31 August 2026 | News
Image Courtesy: Public Domain
SoftBank Robotics America and Flagship Aviation Services, LLC, announced the continued expansion of their strategic partnership, deploying autonomous floor care programs across major U.S. airports. Since establishing the partnership in 2024, Flagship has grown its program from 100 autonomous cleaning robots across 15 locations to more than 200 robots across 25 locations, in under two years.
The expanded program has surpassed 100,000 operating hours and is approaching 500 million square feet cleaned. The autonomous fleet now cleans nearly one million square feet per day on average, supporting consistent, high quality floor care across mega, large, and medium airport environments and enabling operational teams to direct their attention to higher value tasks that require human judgment and care.
"Our people remain at the heart of everything we do," said Todd Jacobs, Chief Operating Officer, Flagship. "Autonomous cleaning is a tool that helps our teams work more efficiently, so they can spend more time delivering exceptional passenger experiences." Reflecting on his partnership with SoftBank Robotics America, Jacobs remarked, "SoftBank Robotics America continues to do what it says it will do; we know we can trust them, and that is critical for our business success."
A Scalable Model for Complex Airport Operations
Airports are among the most demanding environments for cleaning with high passenger volumes, expansive floor areas, limited cleaning windows, and continuously changing traffic patterns. Flagship's program leverages the full portfolio of cleaning robots from SoftBank Robotics America. This provides program flexibility enabling sweeping, scrubbing, mopping of hard floors, and vacuuming of carpets across a variety of environments, configurations, and floor sizes.
The robots can operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and safely clean alongside travelers, including during peak periods. This enables Flagship teams to maintain consistent, high-quality standards of cleanliness to meet standard operating procedures (SOPs) while focusing their expertise on restrooms, gates, and other areas that require human judgment and care.
"With a 9x increase in operating hours and daily floor cleaning coverage of nearly one million square feet, this program demonstrates the productivity and operational effectiveness that autonomous solutions can deliver," said Jeff Williams, Director of Automation and Technology, Flagship." Our trusted partnership with SoftBank Robotics America has enabled us to safely introduce the latest technology and constantly optimize our operations to keep up with dynamically changing airport environments. The robots demonstrate daily that the airport has a commitment to high standards of cleanliness and customer care."
Innovation That Supports the Passenger Experience
Flagship-supported airports have received recognition from J.D. Power, Skytrax, ISSA (The Worldwide Cleaning Industry Association), and Airports Council International. In the J.D. Power 2025 North America Airport Satisfaction Study, 16 Flagship-supported airports were recognized across the mega, large, and medium airport categories, including eight airports ranked among the top five in their respective categories. Seven Flagship-supported airports were named among the Top 100 Airports in the World in the 2026 Skytrax World Airport Awards and five North American airports were honored in the ACI-ASQ awards.
Flagship has also helped pilot emerging technologies and expand real-world use cases. Its autonomous portfolio has grown to include newer solutions such as Omnie and the next-generation V40, with additional technology evaluations planned as operational needs evolve.
"At SoftBank Robotics America, we provide custom solutions that fit a new operating model designed for humans and technology. We leverage over a decade of learning, experimentation, and real-world use plus our inside track to technology innovation across our group to integrate autonomous solutions that are proven to deliver business value at scale. We partner to understand a customer's operational model and business goals and source the most appropriate technology to deliver the right solution with the best economic value," said Brady Watkins, President and General Manager, SoftBank Robotics America.
Jacobs summarized: "The winning combination is a culture built around customer service and experience, together with a strategic partner that helps us innovate, streamline operations, and deliver optimized facility performance for our customers. We are also exploring opportunities such as smart restrooms, facility security, and other solutions that can further improve service delivery and passenger experience."
