Munich, 12.10.2007 – From October 9-12, 2007, the Interairport Europe took place at Munich Airport. Over the course of its more than thirty-year history, this trade fair has developed into the leading international fair for air-port equipment and complementary services. Nowhere else in the world is the entire industry represented to this extent.

Of course VOLK also made its presence known here. VOLK Managing Directors Lutz and Dr. Matthias Baur and five company employees were at an over 130 square meter large stand in the outside exhibition area to introduce the company's newest baggage and cargo tow tractors. Approximately 500 visitors made use of the opportunity to inform themselves at the stand about our products.

In addition to greeting many existing customers from air-ports such as Amsterdam/Schiphol, London/Heathrow Düsseldorf, Cologne/Bonn, Innsbruck and Friedrichshafen at our stand, we were also able to welcome a number of potential new customers from all over the world.

The special highlight at the VOLK stand this year were again the hybrid baggage tow tractors. With three exhibits of  hybrid tow tractors from the product lines N and NT, VOLK demonstrated its technological competence in this product segment.

“In view of the growing emphasis being placed on alternative power types for the airport service industry in the face of the current climate debate, this focus has proved to be absolutely right“, commented Dr. Matthias Baur with satisfaction.

Hybrid tow tractors are equipped with both a diesel engine and an electric motor. They can thus be operated in the electrical mode as necessary without producing any pollutant emissions.

This is also advantageous from an operational perspec-tive. After all, a transfer to alternatives should not only be ecologically viable, but also economically beneficial. In baggage handling, for example, electrical operation allows the vehicle to drive into the baggage sorting areas  inside the building without producing emissions. At the same time, the tractor can cover very long distances on the airport apron in diesel operation. Since the electrical batteries are recharged during diesel operation, external charg-ing is not normally required. Downtimes due to battery charging or changing procedures can thus be avoided. Ex-pensive and space consuming electric recharging infra-structure is not needed.

The visitors to our stand were especially impressed by the patented modular concept of our hybrid tow tractors. Thanks to their modular set-up VOLK Hybrid Tow Trac- tors can be used on the ramp even during the workshop performs maintenance jobs on their diesel engine. Therefore, maintenance-related downtimes are almost as low as in conventional electric tow tractors.

The big question at this year's Interairport – as at every Interairport – was the weather. Thick fog usually brought an unpleasant chill to the morning hours. As soon as the fog lifted, however, the trade fair visitors and exhibitors were able to enjoy beautiful October weather, which made time spent in the outside area a real delight.

VOLK stand at the Interairport 2007 – On over 130 square meters, we presented five exhibits

Our friendly and attentive service personnel – Zeynep and Anett made sure our guests were well taken care of

Interairport 2007 – As soon as the daily morning fog lifted, visitors were able to enjoy the beautiful autumn weather