JAL trials humanoid robots at Haneda

Japan Airlines and its ground-handling unit said on April 27 they will begin testing humanoid robots at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport in May 2026. (press.jal.co.jp) The project is a joint trial by JAL Ground Service and GMO AI & Robotics Trading, and the companies called it Japan’s first airport demonstration experiment using humanoid robots. (press.jal.co.jp) The first phase will study where robots can work safely on airport sites, then move into tests for baggage and cargo loading and unloading in ground-handling operations. (press.jal.co.jp) JAL said it chose human-shaped robots because airports are full of tight spaces, varied equipment and aircraft layouts that fixed automation and single-purpose machines struggle to handle. (press.jal.co.jp) The company said the robots are expected to expand later to cabin cleaning and operating some ground support equipment, the vehicles and tools used around parked aircraft. (press.jal.co.jp) The backdrop is a labor squeeze in Japanese aviation. JAL said ground handling still depends heavily on manual work, while inbound tourism has risen and the working-age population has fallen. (press.jal.co.jp) Japan National Tourism Organization data show 3,597,500 visitor arrivals in January 2026 and 3,466,700 in February, both record highs for those months. March then reached 3,618,900, up 13.1% from a year earlier. (jnto.go.jp ) (jnto.go.jp 1) (jnto.go.jp 2) GMO has been building a business around deploying humanoid robots as staffed services rather than just selling hardware. In a 2025 company post, it said it was using Unitree’s G1 model for that service. (developers.gmo.jp) Unitree says the G1 is a compact humanoid with a listed starting price of $13,500, depth sensing and software updates, though JAL’s release did not name the robot model. (unitree.com) (support.unitree.com) For now, the Haneda plan is a long-run field test, not a full handoff from people to machines. JAL said the goal is labor saving and workload reduction in some of the airport’s most physical jobs. (press.jal.co.jp)