Flagship Aviation Services LLC, (Flagship) established a partnership with SoftBank Robotics America in 2024, to enhance services with an autonomous floor cleaning program at some of the busiest airports in the US. As a result of the significant achievements realized, Flagship continues expansion of the program.
Service Expansion: Reflects Shared Commitment and Partnership
Flagship and Softbank Robotics America collaborated in identifying key elements of success and the framework for a strategic partnership. “Our people remain at the heart of everything we do.” said Todd Jacobs, COO, Flagship, “Autonomous cleaning is a tool that helps them 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.”
Since the partnership began, Flagship has scaled from an initial deployment of 100 autonomous cleaning solutions across 15 locations to over 200 robots across 25 locations. By doubling its service capability, Flagship has now surpassed 100,000 operating hours and nearly 500 million square feet cleaned and is averaging almost one million sq ft cleaned daily. 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. In addition, Flagship is frequently involved in piloting new innovations, automation, and robotic solutions which helps to accelerate establishing industry leading use cases.
The autonomous floor care program enables consistent, high-performance cleaning operations across mega, large and medium airport categories, with eight airports ranked in the Top 5 in all three categories of JD Power’s 2025 North America Airport Satisfaction Study. In total, 16 airports have been recognized in the JD Power study.
Mark Halverson, Senior Advisor, Strategic Market Development, SoftBank Robotics America commented, “Flagship is very customer focused and is unique in the industry continuing to aggressively seek innovative solutions which can bring benefits to all stakeholders. The continued expansion of the autonomous floor cleaning program reflects the shared alignment and commitment of both Flagship and SoftBank Robotics America to deliver measurable business outcomes for airport operators and staff, and higher quality experiences for passengers.”
Proof of Clean by the Numbers:
|
Criteria |
2024 |
2026 |
|
# Robots |
100 |
200 |
|
# Type/Model solution used |
4 (S50, V40, Phantas, Whiz) |
5 (includes Omnie) |
|
# Locations |
15 |
25 |
|
# Hours |
10,000 |
100,000 |
|
# Sq Footage Cleaned |
35,000,000 |
500,000,000 |
|
Average Daily Sq Footage Cleaned |
555,000 sq ft daily |
~1M sq footage daily |
Table 1 - Source Data: SoftBank Robotics Connect 01.01.2024 to 06.30.2026
Enterprise Scale: A Robotics Program Built to Scale for Airport Complexity
Airports are among the most demanding environments for cleaning with high passenger volumes, limited cleaning windows, and extended floor space. The expectation is that the cleaning program requires operational efficiency and consistent, high-quality standards of cleanliness to meet standard operating procedures (SOPs).
By expanding its robotic fleet with SoftBank Robotics America, Flagship is strengthening the consistency and coverage of its floor care operations while enabling operational teams to direct attention to higher-value tasks such as restrooms, gates and other areas that require human judgment and care. This allows an optimized labor model to be maintained in all locations. The autonomous floor cleaning program can work 24 by 7 if necessary. Robots can operate efficiently and safely clean alongside travelers even during peak travel times when foot traffic is at its highest. Flagship is leading the way with autonomous cleaning programs, which are trending globally and popular in many large airports.
“With a 9x increase in the number of hours operating and daily floor cleaning coverage of nearly one million sq ft, this program demonstrates the increased productivity and operational effectiveness of autonomous solutions”
Jeff Williams, Director Automation and Technology, Flagship
Winning More Through Innovation: Operational excellence and industry recognition
As Flagship continues to scale automation across its airport portfolio, Flagship supported airports have received recognition from leading industry bodies including J.D. Power, Skytrax, ISSA (The Worldwide Cleaning Industry Association) and Airports Council International (ACI) Airport Service Quality (ASQ) Customer Experience Awards.
In the JD Power 2025 North America Airport Satisfaction Study, 16 Flagship supported airports were recognized across large, medium and mega airport categories with eight airports ranking in the Top 5 across all three categories.
The prestigious 2026 Skytrax World Airport Awards are awarded based on Skytrax’s global passenger surveys, which evaluate more than 500 airports worldwide for service quality, efficiency, cleanliness, staff performance, and overall traveler experience. Data for this year’s awards was collected from travelers representing over 100 nationalities between August 2025 and February 2026. Seven of Flagship’s supported airports were named among the Top 100 Airports in the World, reinforcing their global standing for performance and passenger experience.
The Airports Council International (ACI) Airport Service Quality (ASQ) Customer Experience Awards reinforce the importance of cleanliness and facility performance in driving passenger experience and operational excellence. Awards are given based entirely on direct passenger feedback and surveys and highlight airports that consistently deliver exceptional passenger experiences. Flagship provides janitorial, maintenance and aviation support at five North American airports honored in the awards.
“We pride ourselves in being able to consistently innovate, streamline operations, and deliver optimized facility performance for our customers.” said Todd Jacobs, COO, Flagship. “To put our cleaning program into perspective, the distance covered by these cleaning solutions to-date, is almost equivalent to flying 4x around the planet. As a result of the program, we can provide a higher quality service to our airport customers and travelers, with cleaning teams being able to focus on other areas that require human judgment and care. This was demonstrated recently at the ISSA show where Tampa International Airport was named ‘Spotless Space of the Year’.”
Jeff Williams, Director of Automation and Technology, Flagship, is responsible for running the autonomous program across the U.S. and works closely with SoftBank Robotics America to ensure consistency and quality in operations. Williams commented: “With a 9x increase in the number of hours operating and daily floor cleaning coverage of nearly one million sq ft, this program demonstrates the increased productivity and operational effectiveness of autonomous solutions.” Williams has also been instrumental in piloting new technologies. In the last year, he has expanded Flagship’s autonomous portfolio to include Omnie and the next generation V40. Now he is working on growing the portfolio. Williams said: “The trusted partnership with SoftBank Robotics America has enabled us to safely introduce the latest technology and constantly optimize our operations to keep up with the dynamically changing airport environments. Airports are increasingly wanting to operate autonomous cleaning programs during the day and the robots we are using allow them to do this.” He went on to add: “The visual impact for travelers cannot be underestimated. The robots demonstrate daily that the airport has a commitment to high standards of cleanliness and customer care.”
Todd Jacobs, COO, Flagship, summarized: “We are always looking for opportunities to incorporate new technologies that can improve our service delivery, and enable teams to spend more time delivering exceptional passenger experiences. Additional examples being explored together with SoftBank Robotics America include smart bathrooms, facility security, and more. For us, the winning combination is having a vision of customer service and experience that is part of our culture along with a strategic partner that helps us innovate, automate, and go faster at scale with full confidence.”
