One man standing at the airport gate waiting his flight with delay or canceled. Traveler people lifestyle in indoor leisure activity. One tourist with backpack wait to fly with airplane for vacation


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 over 200 robots across 25 locations. 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 various airport environments. This system enables operational teams to direct their attention to higher-value tasks that require human judgement and care.

"Our people remain at the heart of everything we do," says 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."

Innovation Improvements

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 that enables sweeping, scrubbing, mopping of hard floors, and vacuuming of carpets across an assortment of environments, configurations, and floor sizes.

Operating 24/7, cleaning robots safely clean alongside travelers—including peak periods. This system frees up time, allowing Flagship's frontline teams to maintain consistent, high-quality standards of cleanliness that meet standard operating procedures (SOPs) while focusing their expertise on restrooms, gates, and other areas requiring human oversight.

"With a ninefold 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," shares 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."

Flagship-supported airports have received recognition from J.D. Power, Skytrax, ISSA, 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 ASI-ASQ awards.

"We are also exploring opportunities such as smart restrooms, facility security, and other solutions that can further improve service delivery and passenger experience," adds Jacobs. "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."