Targa Telematics speaks to Airside about the numerous benefits that the technology offers to the aviation sector
Targa Telematics has developed advanced technology solutions for over two decades. Through its telematics systems, the company helps field operators gain real-time visibility on the location of their GSE units, their operating status, and their utilisation.
This data is then converted into actionable workflows, a particularly useful tool when managing GSE fleets, as the technology helps avoid under and over-allocation of assets, as well as reducing downtime through smarter maintenance.
“The overall objective is quite simple – higher availability of the fleet, with less operational friction,” says Jad Tabet, head of international airport business development at Targa Telematics.
“There are some differences from one location to the other, but we do manage to measure this concretely.”
Throughout 2025, Targa Telematics continued to strengthen its presence in the aviation sector, working with global customers such as TCR and Swissport, two leading organisations operating at scale across hundreds of airports worldwide.
“2025 was really a year where telematics within the industry started to become very, very important within these large groups,” says Tabet. “They consider it as a key technological component that will fuel their strategy in the coming years.”
As a result, Targa Telematics has supported the launch of multiple pilot programmes worldwide and demonstrated its ability to deploy telematics and camera solutions in complex, multi-station environments. This highlights the importance of standardisation when managing large fleets across different geographies.
In parallel, several industry players have reinforced their internal capabilities to leverage telematics data and integrate it into daily operations. “For us, it’s a very strong signal that I foresee is going to be sustaining our growth in this market,” he says.
Telematics is progressively being adopted by airports to manage GSE fleets, with notable applications in GSE pooling – where it is necessary to manage the units rented by different ground handlers. Targa Telematics has been involved in several pooling initiatives across different stations.
“Pooling is a way of doing more with less, and it also has an impact on the business models of the players in the airport industry,” says Tabet. “You need to have access control, rights management, all the reports that allow you to generate the right billings, and to have proof of work.”
Tracking incidents, collecting data
In recent years, there has also been growing interest in the use of telematics for incident reduction, which the technology supports through the provision of driver behaviour insight and camera footage; for example, it can detect a distracted driver who is looking at their phone. For some categories of vehicles, the company offers incident reconstruction, and provides tools to fleet managers to help them properly coach their drivers, which Tabet believes is even more effective in avoiding accidents.
On the sustainability side, telematics can detect excessive idling times, with different thresholds depending on the unit. An idling time of 30 minutes may be unremarkable for an apron bus, but idling should not exceed five minutes for a pushback or baggage tractor.
As more airports enforce electrification of GSE, re-fuelling times are changing. Telematics can allow operators to track charge status in real time, even for older units powered by lead-acid batteries; for these, the company has developed a specific hardware piece that connects to the battery, retrieving information and ensuring the regular maintenance these types of equipment need.
A growing amount of GSE is equipped with lithium-ion batteries, for which the company must develop connectors specific to the protocols of each unit. Today, Targa Telematics is compatible with products from a number of large GSE manufacturers, including those offering their own embedded telematics systems.
“The advantage of having data is that we can translate all these initiatives into measurable cost reduction for damage, unplanned intervention and better asset lifetime value,” says Tabet.
In addition, telematics improves efficiency by reducing search time for available GSE. “Operators do lose GSE,” says Tabet. “It’s weird, but it actually does happen with these big machines. Sometimes they are parked somewhere and [operators] don’t know where they are. Faster asset retrieval, as well as maintenance planning and actual usage of the assets, is important for them.”
Moreover, the company has the capabilities and expertise to integrate OEM data, including data from airport ground support equipment.
While this requirement is currently not as common as it is for passenger cars, Targa Telematics is among the few players in the sector able to offer this integration. Individual OEM platforms exist only as single-brand solutions.
Global expansion
Targa Telematics’ focus throughout 2026 will be scaling, particularly across regions where it already has a presence. The company has launched several pilot programmes worldwide, made up of 50 to 100 GSE units equipped with telematics, and aims to convert these into full-scale deployments.
The company says that unlike its competitors, whose presence tends to be more regional, it has a global footprint, operating in 80 airports across 30 countries.
While it maintains a strong presence in Europe and is gaining traction in Australia, it is also targeting expansion in the Middle East and, in particular, the US, hinting at projects linked to major airport infrastructure developments. Alongside this, the company is continuing to prioritise improving the operational autonomy and deployment efficiency of its customers.
The benefits of telematics, with its wide variety of applications, are reflected in the increasing level of knowledge and adoption among operators, which Tabet says is clearer this year than ever. He emphasises that Targa Telematics’ collaboration with large international airport service providers has been very valuable in allowing the company to build scalable operational standards.
“Telematics is no longer seen as nice to have. It’s increasingly considered as a core operational tool,” he says. “As James Clear [author of Atomic Habits] puts it, you don’t rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems. At Targa Telematics, we provide the tools so that you can build the right systems.”
